A recently-purchased collection presented us with the opportunity to re-examine and reassess books we have in stock and put together the following list of literary first editions. It is said that everything old is new again; may this literary excursion yield a previously undiscovered pathway of your own.
NY: William Morrow and Company, 1935. First American edition. One of Western literature's most celebrated tales of the bond between humans and their horses, and the basis for the 1944 film featuring Elizabeth Taylor in her first starring role. Shallow bump to upper corners, light shelfwear, otherwise a near fine..... More
NY: Scribner's, 1886. Octavo. xi, 209pp., + (16)pp. ads. First edition, first printing. Includes twenty-six illustrations by Reginald B. Birch, twelve of which are full-page. Some rubbing to corners and spine, otherwise a near fine copy of this important children's classic. (PPP 80, BAL 2064). More
NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939. First American edition. One of 2000 copies. Eliot's clever, jovial collection of poems on feline activity, ritual, and politics enjoyed enduring popularity thanks in large part to its adaptation for the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber. As with the London first edition, the American..... More
NY: Henry Holt, (1936). First edition, second printing. Signed by Frost below the frontispiece reproduction of a manuscript of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Contains a poem for each month of the year, selected by the poet from previously published work. They include two of Frost's best-loved poems..... More
NY: Henry Holt, (1947). First edition. One of 751 copies signed by the author. Frost's second long verse drama is set in a bookstore after closing. Printed at The Spiral Press. A fine copy in cloth-backed boards with original glassine dust wrapper, slightly chipped, housed in original slipcase. (Crane A31)..... More
NY: Henry Holt, (1945). First edition. One of 751 copies, signed by the author. Frost's one-act play in verse, with a cast of three characters: God, Job, and Job's wife. Fine in quarter cloth with brown paper over boards and inset titles to upper cover and spine. Housed in black..... More
(N.p. c. 1915). Single page. Signed by Frost. The typescript has been copied in blue ink, with two manuscript corrections in Frost's hand. The first, a change from "need" to "wish" in the second line, appears in subsequent editions of the poem, which was first published in Frost's Mountain Interval..... More
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields, 1852. Octavo. vi, (7), 256pp. First edition. First issue, with “lifed” for “lifted” on page 21, line 3. Illustrated with a frontispiece and six plates after designs by Hammat Billings. Hawthorne’s groundbreaking attempt to retell Greek myths in a style suitable for children met with..... More
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 woven cloth with titles in blue at spine. Some soiling to text block, else near fine..... More
London: Edward Moxon, 1855. First edition, second issue, with eight pages of advertisements bound in at the front. Victorian novelist and poet George Meredith's copy, with his signature on the title page. The volume is the first collection produced by Tennyson after he was named Poet Laureate. "Maud," Tennyson's emotional..... More
NY: Harper, (1945). First edition. Illustrated with line drawings by Garth Williams. This is White’s first book for children, which was written “in the hope of amusing a six-year-old niece.” Stuart Little was a bestseller in spite of some unenthusiastic initial reviews. White spent most of his literary career writing..... More
Newburyport, MA: Wickford Press, 1968. Octavo. 12pp. First separate edition of an essay that was first published in the New York Times. One of 250 copies. Red two-line initials and title device. Printed in celebration of Christmas 1968. Updike's thoughts on meeting one's literary heroes, for better or worse, and..... More
