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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Adelaide, Australia; Westport, CT: 1948, 1952. Two typed letters, (3)ff., (2)ff., signed by Helen Keller, plus (1)ff. autograph note, signed, from Keller's assistant and companion, Polly Thompson., and a typed transcript of that note. As a world-famous speaker, author, and advocate for persons with disabilities, Keller traveled to more than... More about Typed Letters, signed
London: John Murray, 1836. Octavo. xxii, 530 pp. First edition, extra-illustrated with engraved portraits and landscapes related to Johnson's life. A collection of extracts not included in James Boswell's acclaimed biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson due to space restrictions, but which "are essential to the completion of the intellectual portrait... More about Johnsoniana; or, Supplement to Boswell: Being, Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson
(Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1895). Quarto. (iv) 355pp. One of 200 copies. Printed in red and black, with two full-page illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones and initials and decorations by Morris. A beautiful and highly prized volume, originally intended to be part of The Earthly Paradise. Overall, a fine copy in original... More about The Life and Death of Jason
(NY: New Directions, 1960). One of 750 numbered copies signed by the author. Selections from Kerouac's lengthy character study of Neal Cassady, who appears here as the title character, Cody Pomeray. It was in On the Road that Kerouac first immortalized Cassady as the frenzied, charismatic Beat firgure Dean Moriarty... More about Excerpts from Visions of Cody
NY: Viking, 1957. Octavo. (iv) 310pp. First edition. Author's second book, which stands quite firmly as the quintessential work of beat literature. The subject of Kerouac's rhapsodic novel is well-known, as are the stories surrounding its composition, and the mixed bag of critical response to its publication. What is less... More about On the Road
NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1966. First edition. Author’s signature laid in. First appearing as a short story in 1959, this first expanded edition of Flowers for Algernon earned immediate acclaim, becoming a joint winner of the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Written as a series of journal... More about Flowers for Algernon
NY: Ursus Books, 2007. 15pp. From an edition of 74 copies, this is one of 50 numbered copies, signed by the artist, Joseph Goldyne, and the designer, Peter Rutledge Koch. Illustrated with a signed etching by Goldyne titled "As the Blind Remember," printed on seventeenth-century paper and tipped in as... More about The Invisible Collection
London: Duckworth, (1914). First edition, first issue. Bound in blue cloth, gilt-stamped to front cover and spine. Lawrence's first book of short stories. A very good copy. Bookplate. (Roberts A6.1). More about The Prussian Officer
NY: Thomas Seltzer, 1922. First edition. Follow-up to Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious, this was the book that was partially responsible for rekindling the friendship between Lawrence and John Middleton Murry. The American edition of this work contains an Epilogue that was omitted from the English edition. Spine gilt a trifle... More about Fantasia of the Unconscious
NY: Society of Foliophiles, (1925). Quarto. One of 200 copies printed for the Society of Foliophiles, containing 20 original leaves from notable books of English literature from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Unbound, as issued, with each leaf in its respective, annotated folder measuring 12 1/2 by 9 1/2... More about Printed Pages from English Literature
Austin: W. Thomas Taylor, 1995. Quarto. lxxxiv, 242pp., leaf tipped in at rear. One of 100 copies of the special first edition distributed for the Friends of the Brigham Young University Library by W. Thomas Taylor. Specially bound in quarter goatskin, with an original leaf from the 1524 Colines edition... More about Simon de Colines: An Annotated Catalogue of 230 Examples of His Press, 1520-1546
London: Arthur Press, 1930. Small quarto. 625pp. One of 750 copies. Signed by the author. A fictional social criticism of the childishness of the so-called "gossip-column class" after the Great War. Bound in orange and white cloth with titles in blue at spine. Some soiling to text block, else very... More about The Apes of God
(NY): Limited Editions Club, 1990. Small quarto. 183pp. One of 375 copies, signed by the artist. Illustrated with eight lithographs by John Hejduk, printed at Pondside Press by Melissa and Ted Braggins. With an Afterword by David Shapiro. Mann's text is printed in black, while Shapiro's appears in brown. Bound... More about The Black Swan
(NY): Limited Editions Club, (1988). Elephant folio. (70)pp. One of 550 copies, with an authorized facsimile of the artist's signature. Illustrated with seventeen lithographs by Willem de Kooning. After Frank O'Hara's untimely death in 1966, a volume of his poetry was published with illustrations from over thirty artists. O'Hara's poem... More about Poems
NY: Limited Editions Club, 2000. Quarto. 64, (2)pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the artist, Eikoh Hosoe, and the calligrapher, Shunkei Yahagi. Illustrated with three photogravures by Hosoe. Tanizaki, one of Japan’s most celebrated writers, sheds light on true human experience through sometimes shocking depictions of sexuality and family... More about A Portrait of Shunkin
(c. 1946). Octavo. (8)ff. A manuscript poetry chapbook handmade by Robert Frost and inscribed by the poet with the dedication, "A Preview / for Nita and Doc / from / R. F. / After a good Bread Loaf / 1946." "Doc" refers to Frost's friend Reginald Cook, a Middlebury professor... More about Eight Manuscript Poems
London: Macmillan and Co., 1889, 1893. Two octavo volumes. xxiii, 400pp., + 3pp. advertisements; xxxi, 423 pp., + 5 pp. advertisements. First editions. Each volume inscribed to "Mrs. Morgan" by the author on the half-title, the first volume bearing Carroll's handwritten date of December 12. Apparently, this is the same... More about Sylvie and Bruno. Together with Sylvie and Bruno Concluded
NY: Henry Holt, 1914. Octavo. (144) pp. First edition, second issue, binding "B" of Frost's second regularly published book. One of 150 copies bound from sets of sheets from David Nutt, Frost's English publisher with Holt title page on a cancel stub. This was published on 20 February, 1915, and... More about North of Boston
Boston: Impressions Workshop Inc./Cricket Press, 1965. Square quarto. (16)ff. One of 150 copies, signed on the colophon page by the poet, Bernard Bockes, and the illustrator, George Lockwood. Illustrated with fifteen fanciful woodcuts by Lockwood depicting insects, bats, dragons, and mythical beasts. Some are monochromatic prints, but others incorporate many... More about Sixteen Poems in Verse and Wood
Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1925; 1926. Two octavo volumes. First edition of the Scottish poet Hugh M'Diarmid's first collection of poetry, in the second binding, together with a first edition of his second book. Hugh M'Diarmid, or MacDiarmid, as it is more commonly written, was the pen... More about Sangschaw; together with Penny Wheep
NY: Harper & Brothers, 1849. Two octavo volumes. 365; 387pp., + 8pp. ads. First American edition. Mardi was Melville's third book, and his third on the theme of South Pacific exploration. In the novel, an American sailor deserts his whaling ship in order to pursue his own adventures. At the... More about Mardi: and A Voyage Thither
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1960. First edition. Winner of the 1960 Hugo Award. Miller’s quirky, significant novel was among the first in the modern science fiction canon to develop futuristic themes around religion: here, a monastic order in whose charge were a number of books saved from “the first Atomic Deluge”..... More about A Canticle for Leibowitz
London: Methuen, (1927). First edition. Number two of 200 copies, printed on handmade paper and signed by Milne and Shepard. This famous collection of children’s verses, featuring Milne’s son Christopher Robin and his bear, is illustrated throughout with Ernest H. Shepard’s whimsical drawings. Bound in quarter cloth with orange paper..... More about Now We Are Six
London: Methuen, 1926. First edition. One of 350 copies printed on handmade paper and signed by Milne and Shepard. With all of the well-known and well-loved illustrations and a fold-out map of Pooh and Christopher Robin’s territory, which appeared in the ordinary edition as endpapers. Bound in quarter dark-blue cloth... More about Winnie-the-Pooh
London: Methuen, (1927). First edition. This famous collection of children’s verses, featuring Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, and his bear, is illustrated throughout with Ernest H. Shepard’s whimsical drawings. Signed at a later date on the title page by Shepard. Handsomely bound by Bayntun-Rivière in deep red morocco, with gilt ruled..... More about Now We Are Six
