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. Flagless Editions, 1984). 16mo. (21)pp. One of 167 copies. Cover illustration based on an unfinished series of lithographs by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. The text of this unusual alphabet poem was written by John Lennon in February 1969 for inclusion in the portfolio Bag One. Designed and printed... More about Bag Two. The Alphabet According to John Lennon
Lexington, KY: Anvil Press, 1993. Octavo. x, 107pp. One of 40 copies in bindings hand-painted by Carolyn Hammer and Paul Holbrook, from an edition of 75 copies printed by Hammer, in Victor Hammer's American Uncial typeface, the rest (in marbled boards) of which were given away as gifts. With initialed... More about The Tempest
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1991. Folio. (88)pp. One of 150 copies, signed by the artist. Illustrated with an etching hand-colored by Joseph Goldyne. The sonnets by Cavalcanti, Dante's mentor and friend, are here translated from the original Italian by Ezra Pound. Introductory essays by Hugh Kenner, on Pound, and Lowry... More about Thirty-Three Sonnets of Guido Cavalcanti
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2009-2010. Two octavo volumes. 574; 627pp. One of 400 copies, signed by the artist in both volumes. Illustrated throughout with etchings by William T. Wiley, whose style captures the romance, and tinge of humor, that runs throughout the narrative. Wiley created the prints by scratching the... More about Don Quixote
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2008. Quarto. (96)pp. One of 275 copies. Illustrated with two photographs, two etchings by Frank Lobdell, and an etching with aquatint by Lobdell in a separate folder that accompanies the book. In the prospectus for this edition, Andrew Hoyem notes that this is the first time... More about The Structure of Rime
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2016. Folio. 225, (2)pp. One of 300 copies. Introduction and translation by Mark Polizzotti. In this, Flaubert's comedic final novel, two mid-nineteenth century copyists begin to conduct improbable experiments based on misinformation gathered from random readings. Reflecting the occupations of the heroes, all pages of the... More about Bouvard & Pecuchet
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1992. Quarto. 63pp. One of 200 copies, signed by the author, Allen Ginsberg, and the artist, Ronald Brooks Kitaj. Illustrated with lithographic portraits of the poet and his mother. Two other poems, "White Shroud" and "Black Shroud," are also included, as further remembrances of Ginsberg's mother... More about Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg, 1894-1956
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2003. Square quarto. (126)pp. One of 400 copies, signed by the poet and the artist. Sol Lewitt has supplied forty-eight drawings, one for each poem. Introduction by Helen Vendler. A very fine copy in gray cloth, with a dark gray cloth slipcase, both printed in black... More about Squarings: A Sequence of Forty-Eight Poems
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1992. Quarto. 117pp. One of 400 copies, signed by the author and the artist. Illustrated with five wood engravings, four of them full page, by Michael McCurdy. The first play in the Arion Press drama series. A fine copy in blue-green cloth with a ring of... More about American Buffalo
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1994. Octavo. 284pp. One of 200 copies. Nabokov's novel, presented as a poem with commentary and an index, pushes the form of fiction and "metafiction," and has been widely praised as the best demonstration of his genius. Bound in purple silk with gold circular onlay and... More about Pale Fire
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1993. Large quarto. 143pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the author and the artist. Illustrated throughout with fifteen drawings by Stan Washburn. The second in Arion's drama series. A very fine copy in pictorial boards and goatskin spine, with a mylar wrapper. Lacks accompanying CD... More about A Lie of the Mind. A Play in Three Acts
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2001. Oblong folio. xvi, 115pp. One of 400 copies, signed by the author, Tom Stoppard, and the artist, William Matthews. Illustrated with four reproductions of watercolor views showing the manor and landscape as they change over the course of the play. Foreword by the author. A.... More about Arcadia, a Play
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1996. Octavo. x, 121pp. One of 250 copies, signed by the author. The fiftieth anniversary edition, illustrated with three photographs of Vidal during his time as first mate on an Army supply ship in World War II, when this novel was first composed. Includes a new... More about Williwaw
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2004. Octavo. 309pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the artist, Stephen Shore. Shore's photographs depict scenes from modern New York City: walkways, monuments, stoops, and balconies. These images bring the novel's Gilded Age characters into the present, suggesting that their whims and worries exist as... More about The Age of Innocence
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1990. Quarto. xxviii, 173pp. One of 400 copies, signed by the illustrator. Richard Diebenkorn has supplied six etchings, comprising a double map of Ireland and five images on the Yeatsian theme of the empty coat. Tiny scuff to upper spine, else fine in green cloth with... More about Poems of W. B. Yeats
South Freeport, ME: Ascensius Press, 2015. Small quarto. 44ff. From an edition of forty-one, this is one of twenty-six lettered copies, bound in full calf. Frost's second book of poetry is here published in a centenary edition by Scott Vile of the Ascensius Press. In homage to Joseph Blumenthal, Frost's... More about North of Boston
Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1954. First edition. Publisher’s file copy with statement stamped on front free endpaper. A science fiction murder mystery in which a robot detective is teamed with a human counterpart. Although Asimov is best known for his science fiction work, he also dabbled in mystery. A...... More about The Caves of Steel
NY: Gnome Press, 1951; 1952; 1953. First editions of the Foundation Trilogy. All of the books are in first issue bindings and bright, unrestored dust wrappers. The third volume is inscribed by the author: “Best wishes / Isaac Asimov.” The Foundation Trilogy is perhaps the best-known science fiction series and... More about Foundation; Foundation and Empire; and Second Foundation
(North Hills): Bird & Bull Press, 1980. Octavo. 40pp. One of 350 copies, each copy numbered "1". A clever and entertaining spoof by Henry Morris of several contemporary private presses, including his own Bird & Bull. Fine in cloth-backed decorated boards. More about Private Presses of San Serriffe
London: Constable, (1920). Small quarto. (76)ff. One of fifty copies printed on Japon, signed by the artist, and with an extra hand-colored illustration. Illustrated with six full-color plates and thirty-two in black & white, some of which have touches of color, as well as numerous smaller line drawings throughout. Balfour's... More about Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
1934, 1950. (1)ff. autograph letter, dated July 25th, 1934. A letter from J. M. Barrie to William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull, the Australian cricketer who captained both the Victoria and Australia cricket teams. Barrie comments on the fourth game of the 1934 Ashes series, in which Australia played against England, saying... More about Autograph letter, signed, together with The Allahakbarries C. C
NY: G. P. Putnam's, 1899. First edition, first issue. A collection of 243 "updates" of many classic fables, including a section titled "Aesopus Emendatus." Inscribed in pencil by Bierce to Dr. J. W. Robertson, noted bibliographer of Edgar Allan Poe, in the year of publication. Robertson was a prominent physician... More about Fantastic Fables
San Francisco: W. E. Wood, 1903. First edition, second issue. A collection of Bierce's later poems. Inscribed in pencil by Bierce to Dr. J. W. Robertson in the month of publication. Robertson was a bibliographer of Edgar Allan Poe and a prominent physician in Livermore, California, whose daughter married Edwin... More about Shapes of Clay
(Athens, OH), Labyrinth Editions, 1982. Folio. (21)ff. From an edition of 130 copies, this is one of 50 with a separate portfolio of signed prints, and an additional, signed, unbound print, measuring 17 by 22 inches. Signed by the printer, Richard Bigus, and by Goldstein and Morrow. Rexroth's collection of... More about Between Two Wars. Selected Poems Written Prior to the Second World War. With an Introduction by...
(NY): Center for the Book Arts, (2007). Octavo. 18ff. One of thirty-nine copies. A collection of thirteen poems from Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, beautifully printed by nine compositor-printers at the Center for the Book Arts. Each printer’s work occupies a single bifolium sheet, forming nine loose signatures. All..... More about Songs
