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 ...
Read more about Literature
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
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
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
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
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2013. Octavo. 178, (ii)pp., + 20pp. of illustrations. One of 400 copies, signed by Lucy Gray, whose twenty photographs were printed by offset lithography in two colors and overlaid with varnish. Gray is married to film historian and critic David Thomson, who contributed the Introduction to..... More
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
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
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
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
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
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
Newtown: Bird & Bull Press, 1990. Quarto. 64pp. One of 230 copies. A miscellany of amusing satires on many aspects of the world of fine printing, with cartoon-like line drawings. Includes "Meet Me at the Fair" and "Scouts' Honor" by Sidney Berger, both of which are signed by the author..... More
Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 1948. First edition. Inscribed by the editor to Stanley Urban. The first bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, and "weird books" in the English language, organized by both author and title. Bleiler went on to become a premier scholar of science fiction, receiving two Hugo Award nominations for..... More
NY: Null-Q Press, 1968. First American edition. One of 250 copies printed on a mimeograph machine on pulp paper, and stapled. This copy is inscribed and signed by Blish. This novel was first published in the U.K. in 1964, and because no American imprint would agree to publish it in..... More
Niles, IL: Dark Harvest, 1986. Two quarto volumes. First edition. One of 52 copies signed by the author and the illustrator, Paul Sonju. A collection of short stories including the 1984 Hugo Award-winning "The Crystal Spheres." Each story features an illustration by Sonju. A very fine copy in bronze paper..... More
San Francisco: Amber House Press, 1964. Small quarto. (42)pp. First edition of Corrington's third published book of poetry. Illustrated with drawings by Ann Parisi, printed in silver, including a stylized skeleton across the covers. With an Introduction and cover blurb by Charles Bukowski. Printed by Frank Westlake at the Bindweed..... More
Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1976. First edition of the author’s first book. Butler, who died in 2006, has inscribed this copy. Although it was the first to be published, Patternmaster is the last volume of the Patternist series, which follows the development of a race of networked telepaths from..... More
Utrecht, The Netherlands: Catharijne Press, 1984. 20pp. One of 100 copies, with an artistic photogravure frontispiece by Johan de Zoete, which is signed and numbered. The two poems are "To Helen," and "Annabel Lee." Extremely fine oblong miniature; the first published by Catharijne Press. Bound in black morocco with a...... More
Boston: Richard G. Badger/Gorham Press, 1903. First edition. Cather's first book, a self-published collection of verse, and the only verse Cather published during her career. She reportedly bought remaining copies of this edition in 1908 and destroyed them. It was re-issued by Knopf as a limited edition in 1923 but..... More
(Indianapolis): Bobbs Merrill, (1911). Small quarto. First edition. Illustrated with reproductions of drawings by Howard Chandler Christy, an American illustrator best known for his patriotic portraits of military men and romantic depictions of society women. The illustrations accompany a story in verse by the American poet James Whitcomb Riley. The..... More
NY: Ballantine Books, (1953). First edition. One of Clarke’s most famous novels, and considered by many to be one of his best. A Golden Age tale about the evolution of the human race and its joining the other advanced races of the galaxy. Recipient of the 2004 Retro Hugo Award..... More
Florence: Felice Paggi, 1883. Small octavo. 236pp., + iipp. of advertisements. First edition. The enduring children’s classic about a mischievous marionette whose nose grows every time he tells a lie, in the original Italian and wonderfully illustrated with a full-page frontispiece of the titular character, as well as sixty-one additional..... More
NY: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1972. Folio. 202, (5)pp. Publisher's facsimile of the famed edition of Hamlet issued by the Cranach Press in 1929. With reprints of Edward Johnston's typography, Edward Gordon Craig's 74 woodcuts, and Eric Gill's contributions of two initials, the title over the first woodcut, and spine titling..... More
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
(Thetford, VT: Cricket Press, 1962). Quarto. (20)pp. One of 50 copies. Printed in red and black, with one illustration by Gillian Tyler. Contains five poems by May Miller, one of the greatest playwrights of the Harlem Renaissance. While less known as a poet, Miller composed verse throughout her life and..... More
