THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. A trivial comedy for serious people by WILDE. OSCAR - 1899

Constable & Company Limited. London. 1934. FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo. (9.9 x 7.1 inches). Illustrated title page with a fine wood engraving by John Farleigh. Inscribed by Shaw to the film and stage Actress Joyce Bland. There is a presentation inscription, not in Shaw's hand, on the front free endpaper which reads; 'To Miss Bland. With every good wish & in memory of the Malvern Festival. July 1934.'. The second inscription, By G B S, on the half title page reads; 'Inscribed to Joyce Bland Bernard Shaw Malvern 16th Aug. 1934'. A very good copy in the publishers delux leather binding of full tan morocco. Spine with raised bands. The compartments are ruled and lettered in gilt and decorated with a blind ruled multiple box design. Boards with a blind ruled blocked line design within six ruled border lines. Salmon pink endpapers. Top edge gilt. A very good copy with some minimal rubbing to the extremities but still an attractive book. ------ Joyce Bland (1906 to 1963) was a Shakespearean stage actress who… Read More

Leonard Smithers and Co. London. 1899. FIRST EDITION. Small 4to.(8.4 X 6.3 inches). xvi, 213pp. Original light purple cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and decorative designs by Charles Shannon in gilt to both boards and spine. All edges untrimmed. A small amount of light offsetting to the blank endpapers. Some mottling to the spine and a little bubbling to the cloth on the front board but overall a very good copy. One of 1000 copies, published July 1899. -- Mason 385.

J. M. Dent & Sons Limited. London. 1919. TWENTY FOUR FINE FULL COLOUR PLATES BY DETMOLD. Each mounted onto card with a printed border and protected with a tissue guard. The title of each picture printed on the guard in brown ink. The colour plates measure 14.9 x 9.6 inches. The card mounts measure 20 x 15 inches. They are housed in the original publishers portfolio with printed title and publication details to front panel. Spine and board corners in beige cloth. Cloth ties to top edge missing but the original ties to the fore and bottom edges are intact. Printed label on inside of front board with the limitation details and numbered and signed by Detmold. This is copy number 204 of only 500 sets produced. The illustrations are held in place with brown card fold-overs to the top and bottom, the fold over at the fore edge is missing. Overall a very good set of these beautiful plates. It is rare to find a complete set of all 24 plates still in the original publishers portfolio, many having been framed to… Read More

Maunsel and Company, Limited, Dublin. Ireland. 1910. FIRST EDITION. Four 8vo volumes. (8.9 x 6.1 inches). Portrait frontis to each volume, including Jack Yeats 'Synge at rehearsal' in volume 2. Neat previous owners name (William Lawrence Schroeder -Author of various works including an appreciation of Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Divine element in art & literature and Science, Philosophy and Religion) on the front pastedown endpaper and title page of each volume. Publishers brown buckram over bevelled edges boards with gilt lettering to the spines. Top edges gilt, others untrimmed. In the scarce original dustwrappers which have survived in varying states with volume one lacking the whole of the spine and the other three with various chips and tears. The wrappers are now all protected in removable clear film fronted covers. A very good set of books in generally poor, but rare in any state dustwrappers. A well produced set printed on good quality paper and well bound. Issued the year after his death, at… Read More

William Heniemann. London. 1898. FIRST EDITION. Large 4to. (13.4 x 11.5 inches). Inscribed on the front paste down endpaper by Nicholson to the Daughter, and her second Husband, of his Mistress and house keeper Marie Laquelle; "For Georgette and Norman Holder with love from W. N. who did the pictures. London. Xmas. 1916". Decorative colour printed front board, lettered and showing the illustration for The Bus Driver, plus twelve full page colour lithographs after the original woodblocks. Brown paper covered boards, printed in colour litho. Plain tan cloth spine. Some minor foxing to endpapers and the edges of the boards are rubbed and bumped. Spine cloth is frayed and split,with boards still firmly attached, but overall a very good copy of this beautiful book with an interesting association. Housed in a felt-lined clam-shell box. Marbled paper on boards and a black calf spine, lettered in gilt. ---- 'From about 1910 until he remarried in 1919, Nicholson's housekeeper Marie Laquelle, whose real name… Read More

C. Elkin Mathews at the Sign of the Bodley Head.,1889. LIMITED EDITION, one of only 250 copies. First book to be published under the Bodley Head Imprint. The authors second book. Blue paper covered boards with cream paper spine. Degree of chipping on spine with uniform discolouration. Light foxing to some pages only. Overall a near very good copy.:

Hodder & Stoughton. London.,1953. REPRINT. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR.-- To my very dear friends Charlie and Jane, with fondest love from Freddie.-- A very good copy in slightly chipped dustwrapper. The book is protected in a red cloth chemise housed in a red morocco spined slip case, made by James Macdonald Co. New York. Spine with raised bands, ruled in blind. Lettered in gilt.:

Printed for F. Style. London.,1739. FIRST, AND ONLY, EDITION. 8vo. Front wrapper, ii,28pp. Lacking the half title but with the rare printed front wrapper (showing the price of Six Pence) laid down and bound in. Text complete. Top edge of pages have been cut and gilded, the others are untrimmed. Pages a bit marked and rubbed but overall a very good example. The original front wrapper has some small areas of loss to the edges and corners and has been professionally laid down. Bound in modern half red crushed morocco by C. Walters. Spine with raised bands, ruled in blind. Compartments lettered in gilt. Boards with dark red cloth. Burgundy endpapers. Previous owners bookplate (Douglas Peter Crossman, Earl Stonham) on front pastedown endpaper. Overall a very good copy of this uncommon political satire, mocking the supporters of George II and Prince James Stuart, the Old pretender. Not in Halkett & Laing.:

Nattali and Bond. London. No Date.,Circa 1850. THREE VOLUMES. Tall 8vo (10.2 x 6.6 inches). Text and plates taken from the Ninth edition. Complete set of this famous trilogy, with 80 fine hand-coloured, full page, aquatint plates, the colouring still strong and bright, by Thomas Rowlandson. Some minor spots of foxing to a few leaves in each volume but generally clean and bright copies in the scarce original publisher's brown cloth bindings, with gilt lettering and decoration on spines. Decorative blind stamped panels on boards. Original yellow coated endpapers. Previous owners bookplates to front paste downe endpapers. Some rubbing to top and tail of spines and fore-edges, and a couple of the hinges with neatly repaired splits (about 1.5 inches) but generally these are very good examples. Slight uniform fading to spines but overall a very attractive set of this classic work with Rowlandson's humourous plates. Uncommon in the publishers original decorative cloth bindings.:

Published at The Hampshire House Workshops, Hampshire Hog Lane, Hammersmith, London. 1915. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (7.5 x 5.2 inches). Illustrated with 12 wood engravings. One of 1500 copies. Inscribed by Gill on the front free endpaper "Eric Gill for H. Davis, 22.3.28" A very good copy in original grey canvas spine, lettered in black, with red paper covered boards with black lettering and illustration to the front board. Some loss to the paper on the boards, affecting 7 letters of the address at the bottom. Spine with just a little darkening. Overall a very good copy. Uncommon inscribed by Gill. --Evan Gill. Bibliography of Eric Gill. No. 259.