There is a deceptively simple goal for the collector of first editions: to obtain the earliest printed form of a work of literature, in as close to the condition it was in when it first appeared in bookstores as a new book. Dig deeper, though, and you find that the first edition collector also has an interest in ...
Read more about Literature
NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939. First American edition. One of 2000 copies. Eliot's clever, jovial collection of poems on feline activity, ritual, and politics enjoyed enduring popularity thanks in large part to its adaptation for the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber. As with the London first edition, the American..... More
Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1903-04; 1909-14. Twelve octavo volumes. Autograph Centenary Edition. One of 600 copies signed by the publisher, and with an autograph manuscript leaf by Emerson bound in to the first volume. The original leaf, which has been expertly and invisibly repaired along the crease, is from "Man The..... More
Petersham, MA: Lone Oak Press, 2005. Oblong quarto. 89pp. From an edition of fourteen deluxe copies and 70 standard copies, this is one of five deluxe copies chosen to be specially bound for the international traveling exhibit "InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books," and as such, it does not..... More
Stockholm: July 12, 1950. Single 8 1/2 by 11-inch sheet, folded in six. In this letter, addressed to "Blijestra," the American novelist states his plans to visit Amsterdam, bringing with him an American trade union official whom he plans to introduce to one De Kadt. Fine. More
Cleveland, Miss. Delta State Teachers College Campus, 1952. First edition. The text of a speech by Faulkner, printed with his permission. According to Petersen, Faulkner agreed to speak to the Delta Council, which was composed of 3000 farmers and businessmen from an eighteen-county area, because he needed the $400 speaker's..... More
NY: Random House, (1951). First edition. One of 750 copies, signed by Faulkner. This novel was written as a sequel to Sanctuary, and Faulkner structured it as a three-part play. This treatment allowed it to be adapted for the stage by Ruth Ford, though its run on Broadway in 1959..... More
New Orleans: Pelican Bookshop Press, 1926. From a total edition of 400 copies, this is one of 250 numbered copies. First edition, first issue. With illustrations of Sherwood Anderson and other famous Creoles, by William Spratling. Bound in green boards. This copy bears the white label, one of three variants..... More
Oxford, Miss. 1950. First edition. An original copy of Faulkner's famous "Beer Broadside" containing four arguments for legalizing the sale of beer in Oxford, Mississippi. This was Faulkner's direct challenge to an earlier broadside distributed by a group of clergy calling for the sale of beer to remain illegal. Contains..... More
London: Macmillan, 1872. 12 mo. (xii), 224pp. First edition, first issue, with "wade" for "wabe" on page 21. Like its predecessor, this continuation of the adventures of Alice is charmingly illustrated with 50 engravings by John Tenniel. Also like its predecessor, Carroll attempted to have the edition suppressed after the..... More
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1980. Tall quarto. Unpaginated. One of 275 copies, signed by Andrew Hoyem, the printer, and by Ray Bradbury, who wrote the Introduction. A strikingly visual presentation of this science fiction classic. Illustrated with die cutouts of geometric shapes, all of which have been hand-colored. Bound concertina-style..... More
(London): Doves Press, (1908). Two large octavo volumes. 192; 200pp. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker. This collection of Browning's poems explores the many aspects of love between men and women. The colophon is beautifully inscribed in red "Flourished by..... More
Middletown, CT: Price, Robin, 1998. Quarto. (36)pp. One of 150 copies. Signed by the illustrator, Keiji Shinohara, below the colophon. Decorated throughout with woodcuts in soft grays, greens, browns, and reds. The woodcuts interplay with the text itself, recreating in a visual way the experience of sitting in person for..... More
Frankfurt: Raamin-Presse, 1978. Quarto. (28)pp. One of 100 copies. Signed by the artist at the colophon. Five full-page color initials by Quadflieg. The page opposite each initial features decorative rules and at two smaller decorated initials. The volume feature's Holderlin's poem in its 1803 and later versions. Bound in blue..... More
London: Florence Press, 1915. Two octavo volumes. xviii, 338; viii, 371pp. One of 250 copies. Keats' entire corpus, including an appendix for "Verses jocular or trivial" extracted from letters and notes. All are lovingly printed on hand-made paper, with sharp black ink and two-line initials to start each poem. With..... More
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1893). Octavo. (vi), 216pp. One of 500 copies. Borders and initials by William Morris. Printed in Golden type in two colors. Peterson cites Sidney Cockerell's observation that this title was "one of the rarest books issued from the Press because of its popularity"; despite its relatively large..... More
Montagnola: Officina Bodoni, 1924. Quarto. 151pp. One of 224 copies. Shakespeare's late, iconic comedy, printed in Catania, an original Bodoni type, on Fabriano handmade paper. Book designed by G. Mardersteig. Bound in green-dyed vellum over boards, with the Press's device stamped in gilt on the front cover. Upper board slightly..... More
(N.p.): Kallistos Press, 1985. Octavo. (viii), 13pp. One of 150 copies printed at the Firefly Press. Signed by the printer, John Kristensen. Engraved frontispiece by "Phiz," from the first edition of The Pickwick Papers, depicting a sexton caught off guard by an imposing goblin. Fine in green printed wrappers, which..... More
(Nutley, N.J.): Gianettino & Meredith, Inc., 1977. 12mo. (24)pp. From an edition of 275, this is one of fifty lettered copies in a cloth binding, signed by the artist, Jill Karla Schwarz. This humorous holiday list of thirteen "recipes" for turkey was appropriately filed by the author under the heading..... More
NY: Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1987. Quarto. (17)ff. One of 75 copies, signed by the translator, Michael Feingold, and the artist, Neil Welliver, whose five color etchings and double-page fold-out lithograph were printed by Shigemitsu Tsukaguchi. The translator served as the lead drama critic for the Village Voice until it..... More
Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 1981. 29 pp. From an edition of 400, this is one of 100 copies specially bound by Bela Blau. Signed by President Gerald R. Ford. The text of a September 1980 address given to the Visa International Convention in Quebec encouraging world peace for economic..... More
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822. Octavo. (iv), 397pp. Eleventh edition. Here, Moore's wildly popular, and subtly pro-Irish nationalism, poem receives an impressive fore-edge painting. The poem's titular heroine stands before her poet suitor, and behind them are Arabesque archways framing an imaginative city in Bukhara. The base..... More
London: Saunders and Otley, 1836-38. Three octavo vols. 304; 304; 304pp. Engraved titles with vignettes, as well as nearly 150 engravings throughout the set. A testament to British literature and artistry, with the poetic pillars of Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, Shakespeare, Dryden, Burns, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, and myriad other writers comprising..... More
London: J. Murray, 1778. Octavo. xlv, 256pp. This copy is extra-illustrated with four inserted plates by Bartolozzi, which are printed in bistre. Bound in full vellum by Edwards of Halifax. Both covers are underpainted in black, with a bucolic scene of a couple courting beneath a tree in a park..... More
London: Ernest Benn, (1932). 16ff. First edition of this selection. Binding A, in wrappers with the title page as the front cover. Together with a copy in the second binding, in which a simulated red linen paper is pasted over the wrappers, with a rectangular cut-out in the front which..... More
November 1952. Holograph manuscript on two leaves of white wove, three-holed, loose-leaf paper measuring 9 1/2 by 6 inches. At the bottom of the second leaf, in Frost’s hand, the work is inscribed “Robert to Fred” (i.e. Frederick B. Adams, Jr.). A life-long bibliophile, Adams was the director of the..... More
