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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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
(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
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: 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
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 about Squarings
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 about Ugolino
Hicksville, NY: Gnome Press, 1959. First edition. Inscription of publisher, Martin Greenberg, on front paste-down identifies this as the publisher’s file copy. Gnome Press, though short-lived, was responsible for the publication of many significant works in the Golden Age of science fiction. Their output included Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sands..... More about The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
NY: House of Books, 1933. First edition, limited to 300 copies. This rather grim tale appeared again later the same year, slightly revised and censored, in Hemingway's collection "Winner Take Nothing." Light fading to spine of red cloth boards, else near fine. (Grissom A.11.1.A). More about God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen
NY: Scribner's, 1935. First edition. Decorations by Edward Shenton. The green cloth covers are faded, as usual, else a fine copy in a price-clipped dust jacket which shows light wrinkling along extremities. Housed in a cloth slipcase. (Grissom A.13.1.a). More about Green Hills of Africa
Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1924. 30pp. First edition. One of 170 copies. Illustrated with a frontispiece author portrait by Henry Strater, an American painter and fellow expatriate who became friends with Hemingway in Paris. This is the author’s second book, published in a smaller edition than his first, a pamphlet... More about In Our Time
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Boston: Bromer Booksellers, 2011. Octavo. 408pp. First trade edition. Aun Aprendo: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Writings of Aldous Leonard Huxley is the culmination of over twenty years of research, fact-finding, and detective work undertaken by David J. Bromer. With over 2,000 entries, Aun Aprendo is the most current and... More about Aun Aprendo: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Writings of Aldous Leonard Huxley [TRADE
![DELUXE]. Aun Aprendo: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Writings of Aldous Leonard Huxley....](/pictures/thumb/23630.jpg?v=1434431961)
Boston: Bromer Booksellers, 2011. Octavo. 408pp. One of 50 deluxe copies signed by the bibliographer, of which 40 are available for sale. The deluxe edition includes a previously unpublished poem by Huxley dedicated to his first wife Maria. Aun Aprendo: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Writings of Aldous Leonard Huxley... More about DELUXE]. Aun Aprendo: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Writings of Aldous Leonard Huxley
(1931-1935). Quarto. (10)ff. The titles are: "Good Conversation" (August, 1931); "Drugs" (December, 1931); "The Angry Ape" (1931); "On Being the Right Size" (February, 1932); "Forewarned is not Fore-armed" (April 1932); "Love: a Fashion Forecast" (June, 1932); "The Cunning of the Oriental" (1932); "Bull Fights and Democracy" (October, 1932); "The Cult... More about Proofs of Ten Essays for Nash's Pall Mall Magazine
San Fernando, CA: Junipero Serra Press, 1990. 14pp. One of 200 copies. Field's poem about a little boy called Willie (ca. 1888) introduced by Francis J. Weber. A postage stamp with a child's drawing is tipped in. Very fine in brown leather with gilt titling. A.e.g. (2 7/8 by 1 15/16; 73x49mm). More about Immortal Little Willie
Poestenkill, NY: Kaldewey Press, 1989. Oblong folio. 106pp. One of twenty deluxe copies printed on papier de Chine and bound in flexible blue textured leather by Christian Zwang. With twenty-five linoleum cuts in several colors by Kim Keever. Signed by the artist. Keever's linocuts draw directly from the theme of... More about 20 Poemas de Amor y 1 Cancion Desesperada
