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TBCL The Book
Collector's Library - GALLERY - Autumn 2008
THE
COLLECTOR
True First
Edition, First Book, First Binding of Black Cloth
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Fowles John.
THE COLLECTOR. London: Cape, 1963. True First Edition in
the rare Black Boards. An excellent copy of what is certainly the original trial or advance binding preceding the usual brown cloth.
A very fine exceptional copy of his breakthrough novel.
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THE TEACHINGS OF DON
JUAN - "NONORDINARY REALITY"
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Castaneda, Carlos.
THE TEACHINGS OF DON JUAN. A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.True First Edition of the Author's first book. 8vo, (xii), 196pp. Publisher's medium gray cloth covered boards lettered in gold, green endpapers. True First edition of Castaneda's very scarce first book & the first book in the Don Juan series. Issued in a small edition [likely 750 - 1250 copies] by a university press, the book was well-read on campus & copies of this, the true 1st [not to be confused with the later Simon & Schuster, 1973 printing] are difficult to find in collectible condition . A seminal 60's book of some great counter-cultural significance through which Don Juan's perception & mastery of
"nonordinary reality" opened up the mind of an era to the possibilities of a more mystical & magical existence, linking various theme s of spirituality, drugs & metaphysics. A fine fresh example of this profoundly influential work, in an excellent dustwrapper - the nicest we have seen in years. A spectacular copy of this much sought after book in a fine custom fitted slipcase.
$2450
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A
COLLECTION Of RELATIVITY 'Sans Pareil'
Rare
Signed Relativity - First US Edition In Original Dustwrapper
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Einstein, Albert. RELATIVITY.
SIGNED. The Special and General
Theory. Translated by Robert W. Lawson. New York, Henry Holt and
Company 1920. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 8vo., xiii + 168 pp. A very good
or better copy; gilt stamped upper cover, the gilt spine lettering a bit
faded. Signed By Einstein in full:
"Albert Einstein", in black fountain pen on the half title.
In the rare
original
first
edition dustwrapper - a very good or better example,
neatly restored at the extremities. Custom gilt-lettered, deep blue
cloth clamshell case. [Differs from the
UK
edition only in page arrangement - Weil]
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Rare
Relativity - First UK Edition In Original Dustwrapper
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Einstein,
Albert. RELATIVITY. The
Special And The General Theory. A
Popular Exposition. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., [1920]. First Edition in English, First
UK
Edition. A popular exposition translated by Robert W. Lawson. Small
8vo. xiii. 138pp., frontispiece portrait, five diagrams, eight pages
of Ads. Publisher's blind-stamped red cloth titled in gilt [not black]
at the spine. A
very good copy indeed in an excellent example of the rare
original dustwrapper with expert minor restoration
primarily at the extremities of the spine. In a fine custom blue cloth
slipcase with E=mc2 embossed
in relief on the side.
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For
Additional Signed Einstein Material, Click The
TBCL EINSTEIN Link Here |
BORGES
/ Major Presentation of EL ALEPH
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Borges,
Jorge Luis. [Vicente Barbieri]. EL ALEPH.
Buenos Aires
: 1949. Inscribed by Borges to his close friend, one of the most important
Argentine poets, Vicente Barbieri: "
Para
el colega Vicente Barbieri con la amistad de / Jorge Luis Borges"
- [For the colleague Vicente Barbieri with the friendship of / Jorge Luis
Borges]. In Borges' own words: "Ficciones y El Aleph (1949 y 1952)
son, según creo, mis libros más importantes". (Autobiografía
pp.111-112). The Borgesian quest for the Verb, the Word, which is all
words, for the absolute Book, which is all books, takes flesh in El Aleph.
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For
Additional Signed Borges Material, Click The
TBCL BORGES
Link Here |
Inscribed
- THE
MYSTERY OF THE HANDSOM CAB
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Hume, Fergus W. [1859 -1932]. THE MYSTERY OF THE
HANDSOM
CAB. London, [1888].
Rare Presentation Copy. Inscribed by the author on the half title: "To / Will J. Benners / With best wishes / Fergus Hume." "Ranks as the most successful Detective Story of all time" - Everyman's Dictionary of Literary Biography, 1960. This is the Florence & Edward Kaye copy with their neat leather bookplate pasted on a panel of the chemise. Quarter red calf slipcase with 5 raised bands. [Likely acquired by the Kayes from The House of El Dieff in 1976] The Collector No.273, p43. Graham Greene and Dorothy Glover; Victorian Detective Fiction [Appendix], (1966).
$8500
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Two
Great Durrell Books
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Durrell, Lawrence. THE BLACK
BOOK.
Paris: Obelisk Press. 1938. Volume 1 in the Villa Seurat Series, edited by Henry Miller. First edition. First Issue. Original printed wraps. Octavo. 260pp. A cornerstone of prose fiction & long denied publication in the US until Lawrence gained recognition for his masterwork " .Quartet ." This is a fine copy showing very light use of what has become a Durrell rarity. According to Alan Thomas's Illustrated Checklist/Bibliography, 1983, the first issue did not contain the erratum slip which was added later owing to a mistake in the pagination & only after "a number of copies had been dispatched". Stiff clear Mylar protective outer wrapper. Neat collector's bookplate of editor, [collector], Morley Kennerley. "The books I own are impeccable. The fine binding lie along the wall in the firelight, snoozing softly in richness." - Lawrence Durrell, The Black Book. Collectible copies of this title are few & far between. $3250
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Durrell, Lawrence. Durrell, Lawrence.
Six Poems from the Greek of Sekilianos and Seferis. Rhodes: Privately Printed, 1946. First edition. Decorated Wrappers. Translations of three poems by both Sekilianos & Seferis. A unique copy. Durrell has inscribed in a contemporary hand on the inside front cover:
"For Wallace & Anna, One Very Rare Book. Larry." A fine example showing light use. Custom cloth slipcase & chemise with a gilt lettered spine label. Fewer than 50 copies were published. Few survived. Very rare inscribed.
$8500
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Signed
by Cornelius KREIGHOFF - Rare
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THE
LITERARY WORKS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. By Henry William Beechey.
Signed by Cornelius Krieghoff on
the title page of both volumes. New and Improved Edition. Two Volumes.
Krieghoff, [1815 - 1872], the consummate portrayer of finely detailed,
carefully composed anecdotal scenes of English & French Canadian
life associated himself with this great English master through his
writings & musings about life & craft. $3150
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First
Edition of THE YEARS - Nice Example
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Woolf, Virginia.
THE
YEARS. The Hogarth Press, 1937. First Edition. A
Lovely Copy. $3000
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For
Additional Fine Woolf Material, Click The
TBCL WOOLF
Link Here |
Inscribed
Presentation Hemingway Death In The Afternoon. Lovely Copy.
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Hemingway.
DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON. First Edition. Inscribed Presentation
Copy. A" & colophon on copyright page. Frontispiece painting by
Juan Gris' "The Bullfighter", numerous other back & white
photographs & glossary. Very neatly inscribed by Hemingway in
blue-black fountain pen on the title page: "To James and Paula -
/ from their good friend / with all best wishes / Ernest Hemingway /
1942". A near fine copy in an excellent original illustrated
dustwrapper with beautifully executed moderate professional restoration.
Hanneman A10a. A very nice example of this Hemingway High Spot.
Custom TBCL clamshell collector's case.
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Presentation
True 1st - THE OLD MAN AND THE
SEA
Hemingway,
Ernest. THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA.
New York, 1952. First Edition with all points. Inscribed in black fountain pen on
the front free endpaper: "To William Scott / with all best wishes / from his friend / Ernest Hemingway / March 8th
1958" A superior example of this Hemingway presentation on one
of his most sought after titles. Custom clamshell case.
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Hemingway Material, Click The TBCL
Hemingway
Link Here |
Unique T.
S.
Eliot Presentation 1st with Rare Autographed Cast Album
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Eliot,
T. S. MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL. OUTSTANDING ELIOT PRESENTATION
COPY WITH THE RARE ORIGINAL CAST PHOTO ALBUM
Inscribed to the First Leader of the Chorus of Canterbury Women
on the occasion of the first performance ever of the play, June 19th,
1935. "
To / Miss Beverly Primrose Wells / from T. S. Eliot / June
15-22, 1935" - With, THE ORIGINAL CAST PHOTO ALBUM FOR THE
PERFORMANCE...
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First
Edition of BEING GENIUSES TOGETHER - The Finest Memoir Of Expatriate Paris
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McAlmon, Robert. BEING GENIUSES
TOGETHER. First edition. First binding. 8vo, pp. 373. Gilt stamped blue cloth. Blue topstain. McAlmon's important modernist memoir of expatriate Paris.
Reminiscences of the seminal Contact Press & Paris Literary Life of the 1920's. Certainly his scarcest book rarely seen in dustwrapper. A superior copy, fine in the dustwrapper which shows a little light use [one
chip at the bottom of the front panel]. In a custom collector's clamshell case. lovely. Cyril Connolly once wrote: "It' is not just the famous books which are hard to find. Several million books of 1938, 1939 and 1940 perished in the
Blitz hence the rarity of Beckett's "Murphy", MacNeice's "Yeats" and McAlmon's "Being Geniuses Together"."
$4250
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First
Edition - Bright Copy of His Rare First Book
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Davies, W. Robertson.
SHAKESPEARE'S BOY ACTORS. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1939. First edition of the author's rare first book. 8vo., pp. vii, 207, [1] [Bibliography]. Publisher's [electric] blue cloth covered boards, clean blue topstain, gilt-lettered at the spine with the blind-embossed crest on the front cover. Eight black & white plates. A very nice, near fine or better copy, in a very good or better copy of the rare [pc] illustrated white dustwrapper showing minimal use; 1 tear neatly mended on the verso of the back panel. An excellent, bright, unfaded example of this Davies
high Spot & in definite collector's condition. Davies account of the life & training of the Elizabethan boy actors, a consideration of their particular abilities & shortcomings, & discussion of the extent to which these actors set free or ham pered Shakespeare in his female characterization. Very scarce indeed. Most of the edition was pulped to accommodate the paper shortage of the war years. Perhaps a few hundred copies were actually sold which accounts for its infrequent appearance on the market. In the last twenty-five years, less than a dozen copies have surfaced in varying states of perfection or lack thereof, usually without dustwrapper, in both the Toronto & Montreal markets. $3975
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First, First State - Signed
ALL THE SAD YOUNG MEN
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Fitzgerald,
F. Scott. ALL THE SAD YOUNG MEN. New York: 1926. First Edition, First issue. 8vo., 267pp. Signed in blue fountain
pen by the author mid title page: "Sincerely / F. Scott
Fitzgerald" A very good copy of the first issue without
battered type on pages 38, 90 & 248 conforming to Bruccoli A13.1.
Fine facsimile dustwrapper supplied for display. $13750
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Unique
GATSBY, Lovely Signed Copy of the 1st, 1st Issue
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1st, 1st State
Gatsby
Fitzgerald,
F. Scott. T H E G R E A T G A T S B Y . Nicely
Signed: "Affection to all of you / Scott Fitz".
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. First Edition, First Issue.
$15750
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Fitzgerald Material, Click The TBCL Fitzgerald
Link Here |
Baldwin - Signed First, First
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
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Baldwin,
James. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. Signed.
New York: 1953. First Edition of the author's landmark first book. A
remarkably nice copy in the original dustwrapper neatly signed in his
rarely seen early hand. $3850
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Absolutely
Superb Inscribed Rand High Spot
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Rand, Ayn.
ATLAS SHRUGGED. First Edition, First issue. Excellent Copy In Dustwrapper.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper in black fountain pen: "To
Graham Porter / - Cordially - / Ayn Rand / 06/25/58"
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Ayn Rand Material, Click The TBCL
RAND
Link Here |
Signed
Catcher
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Salinger, J.D.
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. A fine SIGNED copy of the March, 1952 reprint. [The first issue was July, 1951]. Salinger's remarkable first book,
neatly signed in black fountain pen at the top of the title
page. An excellent example of Salinger's elusive signature - Custom clamshell case.
"The Catcher In The Rye is undoubtedly a 20th-century classic. It struck a popular note, particularly with young
readers.....
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For
Additional Important Steinbeck Material Material, Click The TBCL
Salinger
Link Here |
Greene's
First Book - Exceptional Copy
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Greene,
Graham. THE MAN WITHIN.
London: Heinemann, 1929. 1st
Edition. Spectacular First edition of Greene's first novel. Publisher's
black cloth, spine lettered gilt. A very fine fresh copy in dustwrapper.
Certainly one of the finest available on the market. Wobbe A2. The title
for THE MAN WITHIN (1929) was taken from Sir Thomas Browne's (1605-1682)
"There's another man within me that's angry with me." The film
version of the book, starring Michael Redgrave & Richard
Attenborough, was made in 1947. $9,750.00
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Greene's
First Signed Limited Edition.
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Greene,
Graham. THE BEAR FELL FREE. London: 1935 First edition. A near fine copy in a very good or better
dustwrapper showing minor restoration at extremities of the spine. Copy
244 of 250 [of a total edition of 285]. Signed by Greene. A nice
copy of the author's first limited edition.
$2175
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For
Additional Important Steinbeck Material Material, Click The TBCL
Greene
Link Here |
Signed First, First Issue
THE LONG VALLEY. Uncommon Signed.
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Steinbeck,
John. First Edition, First
Issue, THE LONG VALLEY. 1938. An excellent example neatly signed by the author in black ink on the front free endpaper:
"John Steinbeck / 1945". An important Steinbeck short story collection [13] which includes the classic 'Saint Katy the Virgin', & the 4 stories comprising 'The Red Pony'.
$7950
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Steinbeck Material, Click The TBCL
Steinbeck
Link Here |
SIGNED Fitzgerald
In Rare Original Dustwrapper
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Fitzgerald,
F. Scott. THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED. Signed.
New York, 1922. An early reprint in the original dustwrapper. Nicely signed by
the author in black fountain pen on the dedication page: "Sincerely
/ F. Scott Fitzgerald". The Beautiful and Damned brought
Fitzgerald accolades from those whose opinions he valued. Mencken
congratulated him for staking out new ground. Fitzgerald was aiming
high; he only wanted to be the best novelist of his generation* $13250
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Fitzgerald Material, Click The TBCL
Fitzgerald
Link Here |
FROM A
SURGEON'S JOURNAL Inscribed by Cushing
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INSCRIBED
CUSHING
Cushing, Harvey W. FROM A SURGEON'S JOURNAL. 1936. First Edition - Presentation Copy. Inscribed on the ffe:
"For Ruby McIntire Chalfield with the regards and best wishes of Harvey Cushing. Commencement Day
1937". The book is further signed a second time on the Title Page.
$2650
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WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES Inscribed To His Father
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Wells, H[erbert] G[eorge]. WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES. Inscribed To His Father. London and New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1899.
First Edition. Important Family Presentation Copy, inscribed on the second free endpaper to his father:
"For / Joseph Wells / From his / affectionate son / H. G. Wells". A fine copy showing light use, minimal spotting to contents - very nice indeed.
Publisher's original red cloth, gilt lettered at the spine. 8vo., pp. [1-8] [1] 2-328 [329] [330-332: blank] [note final leaf is a blank],
three inserted plates on glossy stock with illustrations by H. Lanos. One of Well's major "scientific romances", rarely found inscribed.
The most significant example as there is no formal printed dedication, this presentation might very well be it. [Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2459- 62.
"a vividly exciting story." - Bleiler (ed), Science Fiction Writers, p. 27. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-165; (1981) 1-174; and (1987) 1- 106.
Bleiler, Science- Fiction: The Early Years 2332. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s- 1930s 803. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 25. Lewis,
Utopian Literature, p. 202. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 228. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1176.
Sargent,
British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 120. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 78. Bleiler (1978), p. 205. Reginald 151 14.
Currey (2002), p. 426 (binding A). Hammond B6. Wells 15. Wells Society 15]. Custom half red leather clamshell protective presentation case.
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THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS: A NOVEL
- The GBS Copy
Wells,
H[erbert] G[eorge]. THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS: A NOVEL George Bernard Shaw Presentation London: MacMillan, 1913. The [GB] Shaw Copy. First edition, first issue with all the correct points. A fine copy in the publisher's patterned sage green cloth, stamped in gilt and blind. [very minor offsetting to the endpapers & a small stain at the outside bottom of the front pastedown - still a remarkable fresh copy & an extraordinary example, Inscribed by Wells with a
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flourish for Charlotte Shaw & George Bernard Shaw through her with good humored advice as follows:
"Mrs. Shaw / with warm regards / HGW / and do make GBS try a
novel" - The inscription in rebuttal to Shaw having earlier admonished Wells to try writing a play. Green calf clamshell protective presentation case, gilt decorated & lettered at the spine. THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS was produced as a movie by Stoll in 1923, again by David Lean in 1948 (script by Eric Ambler), & again by Paramount in 1952. Wells Soc. 51; Hammond A9. "Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells were both dedicated to reshaping the world: as Shaw commented in one letter to Wells, " The first volume of [Karl Marx's] Capital (all I ever read of it) changed the mind of Europe; a thing we two have been trying to do all our lives." 1 Although (apart from some satiric fantasies) Back to Methuselah is Shaw's only direct attempt to picture what this change might mean, H. G. Wells was very much in the futures business with almost a third of his voluminous writings being explorations from the present into visionary alternatives. Titles like The World Set Free or Men Like Gods offer much the same ecstatic hope for change as Shaw's
"metabiological Pentateuch"; and a comparison between the ways in which each envisaged the future is illuminating. It encapsulates the extremes of the turn-of-the century revolutionary movement in which they were both involved, as well as throwing the nature of Shaw's beliefs into high relief by the contrast. The links between the two writers, both of whom aspired to be the intellectual leader of the new century, are well known: their common membership in the Fabian Society, and the Wells forced resignation after publicizing the scandal of his affair with Amber Reeves (at that time the secretary of the Society) in his novel Ann Veronica, their extensive correspondence from at least 1901 right up to just three days before Wells' death in 1946, which shows that each read the other's work, even sending drafts of some pieces to one another. What has not been as fully realized is the degree to which both Wells' novels and Shaw's plays were written as direct responses to each other's work. There are enough overlaps or cross-references to qualify several of their works as a serious literary conversation, and significantly, the subject of their artistic argument was specifically their idea of the perfect society, and the means through which it might be." -
Innes, C. D. "Utopian Apocalypses: Shaw, War, and H. G. Wells" SHAW The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies - Volume 23, 2003, pp. 37-46, Penn State University Press
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Inscribed DEDICATION
COPY Hellman to Hammett
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THE
DEDICATION COPY.
[Hammett,
Dashiel] THE NORTH STAR. By Lillian Hellman. New York:1943. “
For
Dashburger, /
Who is too far away: who is / always too far away if he isn’t / in the
next chair. Much, much / love, Lilly”. $19750
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The
Father Of Detection & The First Crime Narrative. Haycraft Queen Cornerstone #3.
VIDOCQ
SIGNED.
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An Extraordinary Collection of First Editions. 10
Vols. [VIDOCQ & His Detractors.]. Incl: 1 - Four Vols.
/ Mémoires de Vidocq, chef de la police de sureté, jusqu'en 1827. With; 2 - Four Vols. / Mémoires d'un forçat ou Vidocq
dévoilé.
[Memories of a convict or Vidocq revealed] Issued By Four Different
Publishing Houses* [1828-1829]. With the "Lexique d'argot",
Slang Dictionary in the 4th volume. With; 3 - Two Vols. / [L'HERITIER
(Louis-François)], Supplément aux Mémoires de Vidocq. $25000
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Bellow
Signed VICTIM - Excellent Copy
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Bellow, Saul,
THE VICTIM. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1947. Lovely example of the First edition of the author's second book. Signed by Bellow at the top of the title-page in black ink. First edition. 8vo., 294pp., black cloth, lettered in light blue to spine, top edge stained blue. A fine copy in dustwrapper, price-clipped, showing minimal use; The delicate powder blue dustwrapper just a bit faded at the spine, a couple of short closed tears. By far a better than usual example of this important Burgess 99 Novel.
$2650
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Crowley
Signed Presentation Copy inscribed to his great friend, Edward
Thornton
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KNOX OM
PAX
Essays in
Light
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Crowley, Aleister. Crowley, Aleister.
KNOX OM PAX. Essays in Light. London: Walter Scott Publishing Co., 1907.
Signed Presentation Copy inscribed to his great friend, Edward
Thornton. One of 500 signed copies, additionally inscribed in blue/black fountain pen on the ffe:
"Dear Thornton, / Here's luck! How is it / I never hear from you? / Aleister Crowley / [22 Cha ncery Lane
WC]" Small 4to. The first issue bound in black buckram with white lettering [light out of darkness]. A very good copy with some minor shelf wear & surface rubs; the white silk screened titles still quite sharp - a bit of light foxing to t he fly leafs [Signed by Aleister Crowley beneath his frontis portrait]. The book contains four essays primarily & was one of Crowley's own favourite works. He wrote glowingly of it in his 'Confessions', in particular describing the final essay 'The Stone of the Philosophers' as being " really beyond praise". "I now began to see that this was schoolboyish bashfulness, and to feel my responsibility as an exponent of the hidden knowledge, to treat my prose as reverently as my verse, and (consequently) to produce masterpieces of learning and wit. The "Dedication and Counter-Dedication" of Knox Om Pax is wholly admirable and it rises to a delightful satirical climax of four stanzas on the "empty-headed Athenians". "The Wake World" is a sublime description of the Path of the Wise, rendered picturesque by the use of the symbols of the Taro, and charming by its personification of the soul as a maiden. "My name is Lola, because I am the Key of Delights, and the other children in my dream call me Lola Daydream." "Ali
Sloper; or the Forty Liars" shows traces of my old vulgarity. The dramatis personae contain a lot of bad puns and personal gibes, but the dialogue shows decided improvement; and the "Essay on Truth" is both acute and witty, with few blemishes.
"Thien Tao" gives my solution of the main ethical and philosophical problems of humanity with a description of the general method of emancipating oneself from the obsession of one's own ideas, while there are passages of remarkable eloquence. The last essay in
Knox Om
Pax, "The Stone of the Philosophers which is hidden in Abiegnus, the Rosicrucian Mountain of Initiation", is really beyond praise. Its genesis is interesting. I had written at odd times, but mostly during my travels with the Earl of
Tankerville, a number of odd lyrics. The idea came to me that I might enhance their value by setting them in prose. I therefore wrote a symposium of a poet, a
traveller, a philosophical globetrotter, an a dept, a classical scholar and a doctor. They are made to converse about the chronic calamity of society, and the poems (ostensibly written by one or other of the men) carry on the thought. The result is, in reality, a new form of art; and I certainly assisted the lyrics by giving them appropriate springboards". -
A.C. $8800
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To 666 From 777 - Achad,
Frater [Charles Stansfeld Jones] Inscribed To Crowley
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[Crowley, Aleister].
Achad, Frater [Charles Stansfeld Jones]. Q.B.L. or The Bride's
Reception: Being A Short Cabalistic Treatise On The Nature And Use Of The Tree Of Life.
Chicago: Printed For The Author, 1922. First edition of Achad's most important book.
Ex-Libris Aleister Crowley.
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Extraordinary Presentation Copy Inscribed By Frater
Achad: "To my Beloved Father / 666 / in the hope that this, my / first book, may meet with / his approval /
777". 8vo., 106 pp + 43pp. + 4 colour plates (including frontispiece) + 1 folded black & white diagram. Limited Edition: #2 of 250 signed copies.
THE MOST IMPORTANT POSSIBLE ASSOCIATION COPY. Black paper-covered boards, linen spine, paper title label, top edge gilt. Label slightly chipped, some wear to corners and edges of boards. Light damping along top margin of first few leaves and a couple of inconsequential nicks. Interesting bookplate of Phyllis
Duveen. A very good & important copy. Aleister Crowley ("666") considered himself to be the "Spiritual Father" to Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones, "777"), as he relates on page 801 of the CONFESSIONS: "What I had really done ... was to beget a Magical Son. So, precisely nine months afterwards ... Frater
O.I.V., entirely without my k now ledge, became a Babe of the Abyss. ... The Book of the Law speaks of this 'Child' as 'One,' as if with absolute vagueness. But the motto which Frater
O.I.V. had taken on becoming a neophyte was 'Achad,' which is the Hebrew word for 'One.' It is further predicted that this 'Child' shall discover the Key of the interpretation of the Book itself, and this I had been unable to do." In this light, Achad refers to Aleister Crowley as his "Beloved Father" in the INSCRIBED DEDICATION. This is copy # 2 of 250; we presume that copy #1 was retained by the Author. The bookplate of Phyllis
Duveen, the wife of Denis I. Duveen, a noted collector of Alchemical books &
Esoterica] was possibly executed by AUBREY BEARDSLEY (although unsigned). The Duveen Collection is noted for its depth and balance. The catalogue of Duveen's library "Bibliotheca Alchemica et
Chemica: An Annotated Catalogue of Printed Books on Alchemy, Chemistry, and Cognate Subjects in the Library of Denis I.
Duveen," printed in London, 1949 remains a touchstone for scholars and collectors of European Chemistry before 1900. There are some penciled annotations in the margins of the text. These include the following: Page 2 has the phrase "get Essay
Berashith" (to be found in the Collected Works of Aleister Crowley). Page 49 has the word
"Tau" noted across from a discussion of THE UNIVERSE. Page 64 has the phrase "Book 777" across from a section on THE TREE OF LIFE. Page 97 has the phrase
"Liber Legis" in the margin where the author refers to THE INITIATION OF 1917... BY THE MASTERS OF WISDOM FROM OTHER PLANES OF BEING. We cannot confirm that this penciling is in the hand of Crowley, nor of the previous owner Duveen but all things are possible.
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Crowley Material, Click The TBCL
Crowley Link Here |
The DEDICATION COPY
of
CLAVELL'S First Book
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Clavell, James.
KING RAT.
Boston, 1962. The
Dedication Copy. 8vo., 406pp. True First Edition [preceding the
British]& first book in his "Asian Saga". The author's
powerful debut work; a semi-fictional account of his incarceration at
Changi prison camp in Singapore. Inscribed: "Mother / I'll bet there were / many times when we /
both figured that this / particular story would / never be told - / with
love / from me / Nov '62".
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Signed First, First Issue
EAST OF EDEN. Very Desirable
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Steinbeck,
John. EAST OF EDEN. First Edition, First Issue, First State DJ.
Lovely Copy. New York: 1952. Neatly signed in blue ink on the title page:
"John
Steinbeck / 1953". An extremely nice copy. Goldstone &
Payne A32b. While the signed limited edition is readily available,
signed trade editions are rarely seen.
$9500
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed Steinbeck Material, Click The TBCL Steinbeck
Link Here |
O Canada
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Rare
Thomas D'Arcy McGee Presentation Inscribed
Association Copy. SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. CHIEFLY ON THE SUBJECT OF BRITISH AMERICAN
UNION. First
Edition. London: 1865
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Non
Plus Ultra - The Most Wanted Mystery Of The
Century - An Extraordinary Example
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B.i.g B.i.r.d
Hammett, Dashiel. THE MALTESE FALCON.
New York: 1930. First Edition. First State. A Simply Spectacular Copy In
Dustwrapper.
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An Excellent Example The
Maestro's High Spot
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Superb Nabokov, Vladimir.
LOLITA Paris: Olympia Press, 1955.
First Edition. First State Superior Set.
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For
Additional Signed & Inscribed NABOKOV Material,
Click The TBCL
NABOKOV
Link Here |
Rare
Wilkes In Dustwrapper - A Pioneering Book From The Dawn Of The Computer Age
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