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 ...
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(Vermont: c. 1950). Black and white photograph, unmounted. Image measures 3 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches. On the verso it is noted that this image was taken by a photographer working for Black Star, the noted photo agency. It is an outdoor portrait of the elder Frost, likely taken in..... More
(NY: Henry Holt, 1924). Single sheet folded once to make a four-page pamphlet. First edition. One of 2000 copies printed for distribution at Frost lectures at East Coast colleges. With two woodcut vignettes by J.J. Lankes. Signed by Frost below "The Pasture," which appears on the first page. Paper evenly..... More
(N.p. c. 1915). Single page. Signed by Frost. The typescript has been copied in blue ink, with two manuscript corrections in Frost's hand. The first, a change from "need" to "wish" in the second line, appears in subsequent editions of the poem, which was first published in Frost's Mountain Interval..... More
NY: Henry Holt, 1947. First edition. One of 751 copies signed by Frost. Title page decoration by Loren MacIver. In a review in the June 1, 1947 issue of the New York Times, Randall Jarrell singles out “Directive,” an early poem in Frost’s penultimate collection, for possessing “so much longing..... More
NY: Henry Holt, 1947. First edition. One of 751 copies signed by Frost. Title page decoration by Loren MacIver. In a review in the June 1, 1947 issue of the New York Times, Randall Jarrell singles out “Directive,” an early poem in Frost’s penultimate collection, for possessing “so much longing..... More
(1950). 13pp. Signed typescript with Frost's manuscript correction to the title, changing "Hard Not to be King" to "Hard to Keep from Being King," and noting "As read at the American Academy." Additionally inscribed by the author "For Reginald Cook" on the final page. Cook was a close friend of..... More
NY: Henry Holt and Company, (1928). First edition, first issue, with no "first edition" statement on the copyright page, and "roams" for "romps" in the last line of Canis Major on page 44. Signed and dated by Frost on the front endpaper. Illustrated with a frontispiece and three full-page woodcuts..... More
NY: Henry Holt, (1928). Small quarto. viii, 58pp. Second (i.e., limited) edition. One of 1,000 copies signed by the author. Illustrated with four full-page woodcuts, each of which is signed in pencil by the artist, J. J. Lankes. These have been inserted and are not included in the pagination. This..... More
Boston: Stratford Co., 1925. First edition, binding A. Signed by Gernsback on the front free endpaper, with “Sincerely yours” added in a different hand. Illustrated with eleven black & white plates by Frank R. Paul. A novel of the future in which Gernsback intertwines a love story with predictions for..... More
London: Sheed & Ward, (1931). Octavo. iv, 121 pp. First edition. One of 500 copies signed by Eric Gill and Rene Hague and printed by Hague & Gill. This is a presentation copy, inscribed on the colophon. Illustrated with twenty-five figures, including ten type specimens and four illustrations from wood..... More
(London): Gogmagog Press, 1962. Octavo. (24)pp., frenchfold. From an edition of fifty copies printed and signed by Morris Cox, this is one of eleven out-of-series copies. Contains fifteen black & white satirical prints illustrating awkward moments, with captions in red. Spine cocked, else near fine in patterned linen boards with..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, (1975). Thin octavo. (viii), (24)pp. One of twenty-four copies signed by Morris Cox. A collection of Cox's more melancholy poetry, accompanied by four reverse/direct offset illustrations printed across double pages on gray, scarlet, gray-green, and blue papers. A scarce Gogmagog title, no copies of which were for..... More
(London): Gogmagog Press, 1972. Octavo. (96)pp., frenchfold. One of fifty copies signed by the printer-author. Illustrated with eight original intaglio engravings by Cox, printed in colors. "Each print has the device of a hand with pen or brush, entering from beyond the margins, drawing its composition (poem or picture) from..... More
London: Gogmagog Press, (1960). Octavo. (36)pp., frenchfold. One of fifty copies printed in various colors and signed by Morris Cox. Illustrated with four double-page color prints that accompany poetry by Cox, which he calls "a poem in three parts, being the apotheosis of an unknown woman victim of a war,"..... More
NY: Chelsea House, (1965). Octavo. 47pp. Miss Phypps' "simple rules of propriety and common sense" tell a girl what to say when deflowered on a blind date, at a seance, by a marimba player, on an American Express tour, etc. Rubbing to extremities of pictorial boards, else very good. More
(San Francisco: Richard A. Gleeson Library, 1970). Large quarto. French-folded single sheet. Sketch of the poet Robert Graves to the front cover. On the interior, the printed text faces a facsimile of the original, handwritten poem. Printed by Lawton and Alfred Kennedy and presented to the joint meeting of hte..... More
NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1881. Octavo. 231pp. First edition, first issue, of Harris' first book and the introduction of the character of Uncle Remus. With frontispiece and seven plates, title-page vignette, and numerous line illustrations throughout the text. Original green cloth, spine gilt-lettered and front cover stamped in black..... More
1963-2013. Contains 135 discrete volumes of the Irish Nobel Laureate's primary works of poetry and essays. These titles are represented in their first editions and subsequent issues (English and/or American), as well as some proofs and other variants. In addition to the signed, limited editions, quite a number of the..... More
NY: Oxford University Press, 1966. Octavo. First American edition. One of 1,000 copies comprised of sheets from the first edition with a new title page. This is Heaney's first commercially produced verse collection, preceded by Eleven Poems, a pamphlet published by Queen's University in Belfast. The future Nobel Laureate's richly..... More
Dublin: Hieroglyph Editions Ltd, 1991. First edition. From an edition of 100 copies, this is one of 60 that were offered for sale. Illustrated with four lithographs by Felim Egan, who designed the book. Signed by Heaney and Egan. This is the first separate appearance of twelve poems from the..... More
Dublin: Andrew Carpenter, 1979. First edition. From an edition of 125, this is one of 30 copies issued in black morocco and offered for sale. Illustrated with two lithographs by Louis Le Brocquy. Signed by Heaney, Le Brocquy, Liam Miller the designer, and the publisher, Andrew Carpenter. The book was..... More
Vancouver, BC: A Lone Press, 1999. (15)pp. One of thirty-six copies. A near-continuous color illustration of a surreal sunrise follows a one-sentence story, written by Burgess and appearing in a lost-to-the-printer volume of similarly brief tales. An introduction states that the printer committed the sentence to memory, and asks for..... More
NY: House of Books, 1933. First edition. One of 300 copies. This rather grim tale appeared again later the same year, slightly revised and censored, in Hemingway's collection "Winner Take Nothing." Some fading to spine of red cloth boards, else near fine. (Grissom A.11.1.A). More
NY: Scribner's, 1935. First edition, first issue. Decorations by Edward Shenton. The green cloth covers are faded, as usual, else a near fine copy in a price-clipped dust jacket, which shows some creases and wear at extremities and fading of the extremely photosensitive green band across the spine. Housed in..... More
(Salem: Colonial Society, 1939). First separate edition, which consisted of fewer than 100 copies. A single folded sheet with one page of type, printed by Dard Hunter II at the MIT Paper Museum Press. Inscribed by Frost to Martin K. Howes at foot of poem. Frost read this delightful piece..... More
