Floating Island, or, The Pearl of the Pacific by VERNE, Jules [Gabriel] (1828-1905), [GORDON, William John, translator], [BENETT, Léon, illustrator]

London: Queen Anne Press, 2011. FINELY BOUND. Ten volumes bound by Shepherds, Sangorski and Sutcliffe in black full goatskin, gilt titles to spine and various onlays. Red endpapers and gilt top edges, each volume housed in a custom, lined slipcase with leather trim. The set housed in a black cloth box lined in red. Profusely illustrated. Set 'C' of 26 sets produced lettered A-Z. An exemplary presentation of Peake's work. A new set listed at the retail price. Fine. The definitive collection of Mervyn Peake's works, comprising four novels (The Gormenghast Trilogy and Mr Pye), two books for children (Letters from a Lost Uncle and Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor), a volume of poetry, a short story collection, a new volume of miscellaneous writings and rarely seen material, and a collection of illustrations painted for his two sons. The Queen Anne Press was founded in 1951 to publish limited editions by notable authors, including such luminaries as Evelyn Waugh, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Cyril Connolly.

London: Chatto and Windus, 1939. [Classic man-hunt adventure] FIRST EDITION, PROOF COPY, with an original 4-page advert/order form. Octavo, pp.[vii]; 271; [1], imprint. Publisher's brown card softcovers, with printed label to upper, handwritten details to spine. Contents clean, some wrinkling and lean to spine, covers lightly handled. A very good copy indeed, housed in a leather-spined clamshell box. An extremely scarce proof copy with a loose order form from Basil Blackwell, describing this novel as 'A Thriller of Thrillers'. The published book is a celebrated rarity in jacket however this is the first proof we have encountered, with none having appeared at auction. The thrillers of Geoffrey Household greatly influenced the writing of Ian Fleming. Hubin; Crime Fiction IV. p763. Gilbert, Jon; Ian Fleming The Bibliography pp.616-7.

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1887 [1886]. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.viii; 234 [32]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1886. With 42 wood engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles and black, brown and white decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; cream endpapers. Two plates tipped back in, with a little rubbing to edges. Some very minor occasional marks to leaves, and a gentle tobacco scent. Heavy rubbing to cloth, with some colour lost to both boards, and toning to spine. Very good. A thrilling tale of round the world air travel under the the wing of Robur the master engineer, all the more remarkable for the fact that it was written a good fourteen years before the Wright brothers first got their ideas off the ground. First published in French in 1886, and the rarest mid-period Verne in English.

London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1900. [Adventure] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 408. With 59 wood engraved plates by Roux, and the folding plate of 'The Noble Game of the United States of America' on india paper to preliminaries. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and white, black, and orange decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; patterned green endpapers. Gently toned with a light tobacco scent; slightly cocked. Some light occasional marks to leaves, with a small marginal tear to p.1/2. Moderate rubbing to cloth. Four plates tipped back in; somewhat rubbed and chipped to edges. Very good. One of Verne's later novels, first published in French in 1899, and curiously never published in America, where it is set. In a re-hash of the 'impossibly vast inheritance' genre, an American leaves $60,000,000 to the winner of a huge Goose Game laid out over the whole continent of North America, the seven contestants being specifically named in his Will. Printed in… Read More

London: Queen Anne Press, 2017. Royal quarto, with black and white illustrations throughout plus four suites of eight colour plates. Set in Albertina type and printed in two colours. Elegantly bound in full green cloth with black endpapers, gilt lettering and ornament. SIGNED by the author. Supplied with a felt lined custom slipcase in black cloth with the Fleming crest in gilt. New book, sold at the published RRP of £175, plus bespoke slipcase at £35 and global shipping. A comprehensive guide to the work of Ian Fleming by Jon Gilbert, an expert on the literary James Bond, covering everything from the first draft of "Casino Royale" in 1952 to editions still in print today. Published by Queen Anne Press, the imprint once managed by Ian Fleming, the book includes a preface from his nephew Fergus. First published in 2012 and having rapidly sold out, this award-winning bibliography is now back in print; the 2017 edition features some textual revisions and a handsome new binding of 'racing green' cloth,… Read More

London: Queen Anne Press, 2011. FINELY BOUND. Ten volumes bound by Shepherds, Sangorski and Sutcliffe in black full goatskin, gilt titles to spine and various onlays. Red endpapers and gilt top edges, each volume housed in a custom, lined slipcase with leather trim. The set housed in a black cloth box lined in red. Profusely illustrated. Set 'C' of 26 sets produced lettered A-Z. An exemplary presentation of Peake's work. A new set listed at the retail price. Fine. The definitive collection of Mervyn Peake's works, comprising four novels (The Gormenghast Trilogy and Mr Pye), two books for children (Letters from a Lost Uncle and Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor), a volume of poetry, a short story collection, a new volume of miscellaneous writings and rarely seen material, and a collection of illustrations painted for his two sons. The Queen Anne Press was founded in 1951 to publish limited editions by notable authors, including such luminaries as Evelyn Waugh, Patrick Leigh Fermor and Cyril Connolly.

London: Chatto and Windus, 1939. [Classic man-hunt adventure] FIRST EDITION, PROOF COPY, with an original 4-page advert/order form. Octavo, pp.[vii]; 271; [1], imprint. Publisher's brown card softcovers, with printed label to upper, handwritten details to spine. Contents clean, some wrinkling and lean to spine, covers lightly handled. A very good copy indeed, housed in a leather-spined clamshell box. An extremely scarce proof copy with a loose order form from Basil Blackwell, describing this novel as 'A Thriller of Thrillers'. The published book is a celebrated rarity in jacket however this is the first proof we have encountered, with none having appeared at auction. The thrillers of Geoffrey Household greatly influenced the writing of Ian Fleming. Hubin; Crime Fiction IV. p763. Gilbert, Jon; Ian Fleming The Bibliography pp.616-7.

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1887 [1886]. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.viii; 234 [32]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1886. With 42 wood engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles and black, brown and white decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; cream endpapers. Two plates tipped back in, with a little rubbing to edges. Some very minor occasional marks to leaves, and a gentle tobacco scent. Heavy rubbing to cloth, with some colour lost to both boards, and toning to spine. Very good. A thrilling tale of round the world air travel under the the wing of Robur the master engineer, all the more remarkable for the fact that it was written a good fourteen years before the Wright brothers first got their ideas off the ground. First published in French in 1886, and the rarest mid-period Verne in English.

London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1900. [Adventure] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 408. With 59 wood engraved plates by Roux, and the folding plate of 'The Noble Game of the United States of America' on india paper to preliminaries. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and white, black, and orange decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; patterned green endpapers. Gently toned with a light tobacco scent; slightly cocked. Some light occasional marks to leaves, with a small marginal tear to p.1/2. Moderate rubbing to cloth. Four plates tipped back in; somewhat rubbed and chipped to edges. Very good. One of Verne's later novels, first published in French in 1899, and curiously never published in America, where it is set. In a re-hash of the 'impossibly vast inheritance' genre, an American leaves $60,000,000 to the winner of a huge Goose Game laid out over the whole continent of North America, the seven contestants being specifically named in his Will. Printed in… Read More

London: Queen Anne Press, 2017. Royal quarto, with black and white illustrations throughout plus four suites of eight colour plates. Set in Albertina type and printed in two colours. Elegantly bound in full green cloth with black endpapers, gilt lettering and ornament. SIGNED by the author. Supplied with a felt lined custom slipcase in black cloth with the Fleming crest in gilt. New book, sold at the published RRP of £175, plus bespoke slipcase at £35 and global shipping. A comprehensive guide to the work of Ian Fleming by Jon Gilbert, an expert on the literary James Bond, covering everything from the first draft of "Casino Royale" in 1952 to editions still in print today. Published by Queen Anne Press, the imprint once managed by Ian Fleming, the book includes a preface from his nephew Fergus. First published in 2012 and having rapidly sold out, this award-winning bibliography is now back in print; the 2017 edition features some textual revisions and a handsome new binding of 'racing green' cloth,… Read More