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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(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 about "The Sound of Trees" carbon typescript with manuscript corrections
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 about Steeple Bush
(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 about Typescript Lectern Copy of "Hard Not to be King"
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 about West-Running Brook
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 about Ralph 124C 41+. A Romance of the Year 2660
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 about An Essay on Typography
Boston: David R. Godine, 1966. Octavo. 75pp. From an edition of 500, this is one of 40 copies printed on heavy yellow Fabriano paper, and one of the few printed entirely on the same color sheet. Godine's first book, it was suppressed at the time of publication due to copyright... More about Lyric Verse: A Printer's Choice
Boston: David Godine, 1979. Octavo. 30, (7)pp. One of 650 copies. Thoreau's classic work of political commentary, printed in red and black with a gold initial. Bound in quarter green cloth with brown paper over boards and paper label to spine. Housed in brown slipcase. Fine. Signature of previous owner on front pastedown. More about Civil Disobedience
Berkshire: Golden Cockerel Press, 1927. Quarto. xi, 312 pp. One of 225 copies printed on Kelmscott paper in black, red, and blue. This handsome volume is Eric Gill's tour-de-force, his wood engravings appearing in the outer margin of every page of text. The decorations show leafy vines that frame and... More about Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
(Waltham Saint Lawrence): Golden Cockerel Press, 1928. Quarto. 101pp. One of 500 copies. Illustrated with wood engravings and all but two initial capitals by Robert Gibbings. The remaining two capitals—“Lamia” on the title page and “IT” on page 18—were engraved by Eric Gill. A fine copy of what the Press..... More about Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of Saint Agnes & Other Poems
(London): Golden Cockerel Press, 1948. Tall octavo. 28pp. From an edition of 750, this is one of 100 copies specially bound and with an extra engraving. The twelve engravings by John Buckland Wright, with their supple lines and rich settings, perfectly complement Swinburne’s long erotic poem. In full sienna morocco... More about Laus Veneris
Reading, MA: Young Scott Books, 1971. First edition thus. Signed by Gorey on the title-page. With Gorey's large color illustrations surrounding Ennis Rees' whimsical poetic interpretations of Aesop. Near fine in orange pictorial boards and matching very good dust wrapper. (Toledano B47a). More about Lions and Lobsters and Foxes and Frogs. Fables from Aesop
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. First edition. Illustrated by Pat Marriott, with jacket design by Gorey. Bound in red cloth over boards with black wolf stamped to upper cover. General mild edgewear, else very good in very good price-clipped dust wrapper. (Toledano D-Aiken). More about The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
NY: Gotham Book Mart, 1988. First edition. One of 300 numbered copies, signed by Beckett and Gorey. Adapted by Samuel Beckett and Jack MacGowran. Design and typography by Ronald Gordon and Dean Bornstein, and illustrated throughout with vignettes by Gorey, printed in blue. Fine in patterned paper over boards. (Toledano B76b). More about Beginning to End. A Selection from the works of Samuel Beckett
NY: Dodd, Mead, 1979. First printing of the Dodd, Mead reissue. Signed by Gorey on the title page. Minor bumps to head and tail of spine, lightly foxed, toning to spine of price-clipped dust wrappers, else near fine in pictorial boards, with a very good dust jacket. More about The Willowdale Handcar
San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1953. Small quarto. (vi), 191pp. One of 180 copies printed in French Lettre Bâtarde on handmade paper. Illustrated with six striking color woodcuts by Mary Grabhorn. The most beautiful of the Grabhorn Press Shakespeare series. Slight separation at title page gutter, faint foxing to one page... More about The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the Battell at Bosworth...
San Francisco: Grabhorn-Hoyem Press, (1973). Octavo. (viii), (55)pp. One of 300 copies signed by the author and the translator, Lawrence Kart. This is the last publication of the Grabhorn-Hoyem Press. Montale's motets are presented in Italian with the English translations on the facing pages. A fine copy in yellow silk... More about Mottetti
(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 about Queen-Mother to New Queen
Montgomeryshire: Gregynog Press, 1932. Tall octavo. 266, (2)pp. One of 275 copies. Illustrated with twenty-nine chapter headpieces from wood engravings by Blair Hughes-Stanton. Printed in Baskerville type on Japanese vellum. This copy has been bound in full light brown morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Upper cover features title in gilt... More about Erewhon
Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire: Seven Acres Press, 1927. Octavo. 10pp. One of 125 copies, this copy out-of-series. With woodcut illustrations: architectural border on the title page, six vignettes, eleven initials, and one tail-piece. First page printed in black and red. The binding of this copy, although unsigned, was done by Haberly... More about John Apostate; an Idyl of the Quays
On a sheet of blue paper measuring 9 1/8 by 7 3/4 inches, matted and framed. This brief letter, written from the American Consulate in Liverpool, is dated 2 January, 1856, and is addressed to the Collector of Customs in New York. The content concerns a Certificate of Registry for... More about Autograph letter, Signed
London: Rainbow Press, 1975. First edition. One of 150 copies signed by the author. With full page two-color illustrations by Barrie Cooke. Handsomely printed early limited edition prints eight poems thematically related to Heaney's poetic pursuit of the archaeology of Ireland's violent past. These poems were published a month ahead... More about Bog Poems
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 about Collection of primary works, broadsides, secondary works, and periodical contributions
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 about Death of a Naturalist
London and Boston: Faber & Faber, 1980. Octavo. 136pp. First edition, in first issue dust wrapper. Contains selections from Death of a Naturalist, Door into the Dark, Wintering Out, and North. Very light wear to top and bottom of spine, else fine in blue cloth-covered boards, gilt-titled to spine. Dust... More about Selected Poems 1965-1975
