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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Middletown, Connecticut: The Library, 1936. Octavo. One of 225 copies. Illustrated with several woodcuts, including a frontispiece portrait of the artist. Fine in green cloth. More
(New York: Henry Holt, 1924). Single sheet folded once to make a four-page pamphlet. First edition. Limited to 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. A.... 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, (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
(Pittsburgh, PA): University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978. Octavo. Part of the Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography. Very fine in blue cloth over boards. Prospectus laid in. More
London: Elkin Mathews & Marrot, 1928. Octavo. First edition. With an unpublished cartoon by Max Beerbohm in collotype, hand-colored. First signature loose, else near fine in green cloth. Dust jacket has loss at edges and spine, darkened at spine, and lightly soiled, else very good. 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: Bernard Quaritch, 1992. Octavo. Fine in printed wrappers. More
Bloomington, IN: Lilly Library, Indiana University, 1994. Quarto. Fine in printed wrappers. More
Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Library and the Goethe Institute of Boston, 1982. Quarto. Bound in printed wrappers, which are lightly rubbed, else fine. More
(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 perfectly complement Swinburne's long erotic poem. In full brown morocco with a black onlay to the upper cover... More
Cambridge, MA: Advocate House, 1950. Quarto. 24pp. Volume 134, number one. This is identified as the "Registration Issue" on the front cover, published September, 1950. Features a cover illustration by Edward Gorey showing two Mr. Earbrass-style characters throwing sticks at two hooded heads on pikes. This constitutes Gorey's first published... More
NY: Gotham Book Mart, 1976. First edition. From an edition of 226 copies, this is one of twenty-six lettered copies, signed by the author, Samuel Beckett, and artist, Edward Gorey. The first appearance in print of Beckett's text, illustrated with small tan & black vignettes in the margins by Gorey... More
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. More
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1970. Octavo. First edition. Pencil notations throughout text. Boards slightly darkened and worn at edges, else fine in turqoise cloth. 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
(Hampshire): St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1987. Small quarto. 354pp. Very fine in blue wrappers, gilt-titled to spine. With fine pictorial dust jacket, worn to edges. More
Long Crendon, Buckinhamshire: 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
London: Tinsley Brothers, 1873. Three octavo volumes. 303, 311, 262pp. One of about 500 copies of Hardy's third novel, originally titled "A Winning Tongue Had He." According to Purdy, A Pair of Blue Eyes is the first of Hardy's novels to bear the author's own name, the first two having... More
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
Foxbury Meadow, Godalming, Surrey: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1981. Octavo. Revised second edition of the Nonesuch Press 1931 edition. One of 750 copies. Fine in burgundy cloth. More
(Old Deerfield/Dublin: Deerfield Press/Gallery Press, 1978). Octavo. (8)ff. One of 250 copies printed by Harold McGrath at Hampshire Typothetae, and signed by Heaney on the colophon. Illustrated by Timothy Engelland, who co-founded the Deerfield Press along with Gallery Press owner Peter Fallon. Contains the revised version of "Elegy", the poem... More
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
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
