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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Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (c. 1905). xiv, 1472pp. Each section is opened with a black & white illustration. Bryce published in 1905 a four-volume edition of Tennyson, which was followed by, or published simultaneously with, this one-volume edition. Bondy refers to this edition as "rare." Extremities of spine faintly..... More
1925. A humorous cartoon measuring 10 by 8 1/2 inches. Celebrated playwright Henrik Ibsen, shown in caricature with a wild beard and hair, is depicted surrounded by four of his heroines, including Hedda Gabler and Nora from A Doll's House. Not all seem very happy to see him: Hedda points..... More
(Poiano, Italy: Franco Riva, 1979). Folio. (6)ff. One of 120 copies. Illustrated with a frontispiece etching by Italian artist Ernesto Treccani, with his signature in pencil below. A translation of Dylan Thomas' poem into Italian by Anna Maria Faccini. Part of the "Lectura Dominica" series issued by Franco Riva. Leaves..... More
Santa Cruz: Good Book Press, 1985. (25)pp. One of 225 copies signed by the Thomases. Peter Thomas made by the paper by hand and Donna Thomas illustrated the book on each page with linoleum cuts. Printed with the humorous aphorism: "Rags make paper. Paper makes money. Money makes banks. Banks..... More
(Elder Mfg. Co., c. 1950). A notepad in which each sheet is printed with a different quote from Mark Twain at the top. The base of each page is printed with "Buy by name - buy... Mark Twain shirts by Elder." Twain gave permission to Miller and Bingham Company to..... More
Reading, PA: Fantasy Press, 1950. First edition. One of 500 copies signed by the author. A short novel dealing with time travel is coupled with a short story entitled "The Changeling," both of which were later published separately. Top corner of front endpaper is clipped, and "signed" is written in..... More
N.p. c. 1920s. Octavo. (1)ff. Leaf excised from an unknown book, inscribed to Richard Vernon Johnson from his sister Marian. The leaf is also signed by the editors Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, her sister. Kate Douglas Wiggin is best known for writing Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, but..... More
(Norfolk, CT: New Directions Books, 1956). First edition. One of 100 copies, signed by Tennessee Williams. Printed by Peter Beilinson at the Peter Pauper Press. Overlooked in light of Williams’s titanic reputation as a playwright is the fact that his first appearance in print was in the 1944 anthology Five..... More
(NY): New Directions, (1947). First edition. This is Williams's most famous play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the year it was published. Legend has it that the audience applauded for half an hour after the debut performance ended. Williams also wrote the screenplay for the 1951 film, which..... More
E. Wilson: (N.p, c. 1951). First edition. Inscribed by Wilson, "Happy New Year to Giorgio and Dorothy from E.W." A thirteen-page pamphlet issued as a New Year's greeting by the Wilsons. Curwen patterned wrappers lightly browned at top and spine, barely discernible stain on lower front wrapper, and small bump..... More
NY: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, (1930). First edition, second printing. This is Ward's second woodcut novel, with the story told exclusively via woodcut illustrations. Through this dramatic and expressive non-verbal style, Ward communicated situations and emotions using nothing more than the woodcut's stark contrast of black and white. A...... More
Cleveland and NY: World Publishing Company, 1967. Octavo. (viii), (194)pp. Inscribed on the half-title by Lynd Ward to Dan Burne Jones, who worked, albeit without public fruition, on a bibliography of Ward's works. Without text, this "story" tells with pictures the tale of a young man trapped in a drab..... More
NY: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1933; 1934. First Edition. Laid in is a typed letter, signed, from Wylie to a Mr. Langdon, dated April 13, 1943, which reads: “My dear Mr. Langdon…….Jesus Christ! What a letter! My reply is belated. The paraphrase may refresh your memory. But I am sorry..... More
