"May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books." -Thomas Carlyle
Welcome to my virtual book collection. Since collecting actual books is somewhat cost-prohibitive, I've begun to amass all of the books I would love to have if I had the means. Some are new, lots are old, all are unique or beautiful or unusual or in some other way have captured my fancy. Enjoy browsing!
Special Collections: Fine Bindings ~ Fairies and Fairy Tales ~ Terror and Madness ~ Poetry ~ Food, Drink and Apothecary ~ Science Fiction ~ Illuminations, Lettering and Hand-Coloring ~ Magic ~ Supernatural and Occult ~ Alchemy ~ Science and Technical ~ Maritime ~ Costumes ~ Humor ~ Children's books ~ Legend of King Arthur ~ Americana ~ 18th Century ~ 19th Century Authors and illustrators: Edgar Allan Poe ~ Jules Verne ~ Edmund Dulac ~ Kay Nielsen ~ Arthur Rackham ~ Edward Gorey ~ Charles Dickens ~ H.P. Lovecraft ~ William Hope Hodgson ~ Mark Twain ~ Lewis Carroll ~ Salvador Dali ~ George Cruikshank ~ Emily Dickinson ~ Geoffrey Chaucer ~ H.G. Wells
Ardina Doran
Susan Christian. London, 1903.
“A Story of English society life.” 8vo, bound in handsome Arts & Crafts tan morocco with embossed lettering and image of apple trees on front cover, initials on rear cover, all edges trimmed and gilt.
The English Dance of Death
Thomas Rowlandson. London, 1814-16; 1817.
First editions. 2 volumes, along with The Dance of Life, together, 3 volumes. Engraved colored title-page and 37 hand-colored engraved plates in each volume of the Dance of Death, 25 hand-colored plates in the Dance of Life, by Rowlandson. Tall 8vo, contemporary calf with gilt borders and spines, green and tan spine labels, by Tout.
From bookride: “Rowlandson’s work, among his best, is a jollier affair more of a satire on the follies and anomalies of his time. Gordon N. Ray claims that this work is “the only series on the subject since Holbein’s to rival that master.” Martin Hardie writes: “It is obvious at a glance that the artist bestowed exceptional care on the illustrations for this book. The union of the gruesome and the grotesque appealed strongly to his imagination, and in completeness of detail and carefulness of grouping the illustrations excel nearly all his other work. The hand-colouring also has been judiciously applied. Combe’s versification is full of wit, and shows a force and vigour surprising in a man who had passed his allotted threescore years and ten — a fact that adds a certain grimness to the work.” “
Romola - with original albumen photographs
George Eliot. Leipzig, Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1863.
2 volumes. vi, 328; vi, 310 pp. Illustrated with 29 mounted original albumen photographs. 6x4, vellum, decorated in gilt, all edges stained red. Copyright Edition. Beautifully illustrated with original photographs
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov. Paris, Olympia Press, 1955.
2 vol., first edition, original wrappers, price 900 Francs on lower covers indicating first printing.
_____________________________________________
You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame aglow in your subtle spine (oh, how you have to cringe and hide!), in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs—the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate—the deadly little demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power. ~Chapter 1
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Ian Fleming. 1964-5.
3 vol., first edition, illustrations, small loss to corner of front free endpaper of vol. 1, original boards, very slightly cocked, small spot to lower cover of vol. 2, otherwise all near-fine, dust-jackets, a little rubbed at extremities with few minor marks, small tear to head of vol. 3 upper panel, ink price override to vol. 2., in all a very good set, 8vo, 1964-5.
The Story of a Puppet or the Adventures of Pinocchio
[Lorenzini (Carlo)] ‘C. Collodi’ , Translated by M.A. Murray. 1892.
First English edition, frontispiece and illustrations by C. Mazzanti, titles printed in red and black.
The Natural History of Humbugs
Reach (Angus B.) 1847
Wood-engraved frontispiece and illustrations, 12pp. advertisements at end, original pictorial wrappers,
Auction lot also includes: The Natural History of ‘Stuck-Up’ People, The Flirt, The Natural History of the Gent, The Natural History of the Ballet-Girl, and The Natural History of the “Hawk” Tribe.
Foundling Mick
Jules Verne. (P’tit Bonhomme) 8vo, 1895.
A very scarce Jules Verne title. First English edition, 76 plates, small bookseller’s label to front pastedown.
____________________________________________________
The town of Westport, in the privince of Connacht, is situated on Clew Bay. This bay is one of the most beautiful along the entire seaboard of Ireland; its capes, promontories, and points are ranged like so many sharks’ teeth which bite the incoming rollers. It is at Westport that we are to find little Mick in the dawn of his life’s story; we shall see where, when, and how that story comes to its end. ~Opening Paragraph
Tinker, Tailor
Wain (Louis).- Vredenburg (Edric)
First edition, 12 colour plates, illustrations, 8pp. advertisements, some gatherings and plates loose, upper hinge weak, original cloth-backed pictorial boards, extremities a little rubbed, 4to, [c.1914].
En attendant Godot
Samuel Becket. Paris, 1962.
First edition, browning to margins, original printed wrappers, light creasing to spine, very light browning to head, but overall a very good copy, 8vo, Paris, 1952.
__________________________________________________
ESTRAGON:
Nous sommes heureux. (Silence.) Qu’est-ce que nous faisons maintenant, maintenant que nous sommes heureux?
VLADIMIR:
Attendre Godot. (Estragon gémissements. Silence.) Les choses ont changé ici depuis hier. _________________________________________________________
ESTRAGON:
We are happy. (Silence.) What do we do now, now that we are happy?
VLADIMIR:
Wait for Godot. (Estragon groans. Silence.) Things have changed here since yesterday.
Anatomy of an Antiquarian Bookseller
Ronald Searle. Colour offset lithograph, one of 50 copies printed on handmade paper and signed and dated in pencil by the artist, framed and glazed, c.710 x 520mm., 1976.
B-A Note: This is wonderful! I hope I can track down a print or copy, at least, for my wall - since this original is a little outside my discretionary spending fund.
Irish Recipe Book.
Cormick (David & Ellen, of County Monaghan, Ireland). Circa 1830.
Manuscript in several hands, 73pp. excluding blanks & 19pp. of index. Recipes include: “Receipt for Making Ginger Cake”; “Godbolds Vegetable Balsam”; “Whipt Cream”; “Receit to Boil Salmon”; “Receipt for making Spanish Flummery”; “Receipt to make Orange Jelly”; “Green Gooseberry Wine”; “Receipt to make Ginger Beer”; “Receipt for Greening Gerkins”; “Receipt for washing silk stocking”; “Receipt for making Plumb Jam”; “To make Isinglass Blancmange”; “To make rasperry whiskey”; “To make a Bread Pudding”.
Crusader Castles
T.E. Lawrence. Golden Cockerel Press, 1936.
2 vol., LIMITED TO 1,000 COPIES, plates, 2 maps in separate pocket at end, uncut in original red half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, t.e.g. [O’Brien A188, A189], 4to,
Posthumous publication of Lawrence’s thesis. “Before he became famous throughout the world as Lawrence of Arabia, T. E. Lawrence travelled through Britain, France, Syria and Palestine to research his undergraduate thesis on ‘The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture to the End of the Twelfth Century’. Lawrence’s brilliant observations have since been confirmed by modern research. Moreover, the thesis and correspondence that make up Crusader Castles give us an insight into both Lawrence’s fascination with the Crusades and his origins as an adventurer.” (foliosociety.com)
Punch, Brothers, Punch! and Other Sketches
Twain, Mark. New York, Slote, Woodman & Co., 1878
First edition, with Twain’s name in Roman on title page versus facsimile autograph of second edition; first state of rear wrapper with illustration of scrapbook measuring 2-7/8x2”. BAL 3378.
___________________________________________________
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS
Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
News from Nowhere: or, an Epoch of Rest, being Some Chapters from a Utopian Romance
William Morris, Kelmscott Press, 1892.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, original limp vellum, ties, spine slightly soiled [Peterson A12], small 4to,
____________________________________________________________
“He heard one o’clock strike, then two and then three; after which he fell asleep again. Our friend says that from that sleep he awoke once more, and afterwards went through such surprising adventures that he thinks that they should be told to our comrades, and indeed the public in general, and therefore proposes to tell them now. But, says he, I think it would be better if I told them in the first person, as if it were myself who had gone through them; which, indeed, will be the easier and more natural to me, since I understand the feelings and desires of the comrade of whom I am telling better than any one else in the world does.”
![The Story of a Puppet or the Adventures of Pinocchio
[Lorenzini (Carlo)] ‘C. Collodi’ , Translated by M.A. Murray. 1892.
First English edition, frontispiece and illustrations by C. Mazzanti, titles printed in red and black.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5go5hqPkQ1qabm59o1_500.jpg)
![Tinker, Tailor
Wain (Louis).- Vredenburg (Edric)
First edition, 12 colour plates, illustrations, 8pp. advertisements, some gatherings and plates loose, upper hinge weak, original cloth-backed pictorial boards, extremities a little rubbed, 4to, [c.1914].](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5gob11SID1qabm59o1_500.jpg)
![Crusader Castles
T.E. Lawrence. Golden Cockerel Press, 1936.
2 vol., LIMITED TO 1,000 COPIES, plates, 2 maps in separate pocket at end, uncut in original red half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, t.e.g. [O’Brien A188, A189], 4to,
Posthumous publication of Lawrence’s thesis. “Before he became famous throughout the world as Lawrence of Arabia, T. E. Lawrence travelled through Britain, France, Syria and Palestine to research his undergraduate thesis on ‘The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture to the End of the Twelfth Century’. Lawrence’s brilliant observations have since been confirmed by modern research. Moreover, the thesis and correspondence that make up Crusader Castles give us an insight into both Lawrence’s fascination with the Crusades and his origins as an adventurer.” (foliosociety.com)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4wg0oXn8V1qabm59o1_500.jpg)
![News from Nowhere: or, an Epoch of Rest, being Some Chapters from a Utopian Romance
William Morris, Kelmscott Press, 1892.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, original limp vellum, ties, spine slightly soiled [Peterson A12], small 4to,
____________________________________________________________“He heard one o’clock strike, then two and then three; after which he fell asleep again. Our friend says that from that sleep he awoke once more, and afterwards went through such surprising adventures that he thinks that they should be told to our comrades, and indeed the public in general, and therefore proposes to tell them now. But, says he, I think it would be better if I told them in the first person, as if it were myself who had gone through them; which, indeed, will be the easier and more natural to me, since I understand the feelings and desires of the comrade of whom I am telling better than any one else in the world does.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4wfy5coCs1qabm59o1_500.jpg)
