Search Results: Irish Literature from B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA

Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1982 First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel Gussow / With all good wishes / Sam Beckett / 24.6.83." Publisher's original white wrappers, front wrapper and spine lettered in blue and black. About fine, with just some light toning to spine and edges. Overall, an excellent association copy, from Mel Gussow's personal library. In Catastrophe, an imperious director and his assistant prepare a man, who stands on an 18" black block with his eyes looking down, for the last scene of a dramatic performance. After making dehumanizing adjustments to the man's appearance, like stripping him down to his pajamas, they do a run through of the scene, which ends with the director exclaiming "There's our catastrophe! In the bag." They do one more run through, but this time the man raises his eyes defiantly to the crowd. Catastrophe, often interpreted as a… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1984 First edition thus. Presentation copy, inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel / from his friend / Sam / Paris / July 1985." Publisher's original green, white, and gray patterned wrappers, with illustration of Beckett by Sue Linney to front wrapper, lettered in black and green. Near fine, with a few light marks and creases to edges of wrappers, very mild toning to spine, and edges of pages lightly toned. Overall, a lovely presentation copy. This copy comes from Mel Gussow's personal library. This volume contains twenty-nine of Beckett's shorter plays, including classics like All That Fall, Krapp's Last Tape, Embers, Acts Without Words, and Catastrophe. These shorter works are exemplary of Beckett's signature minimalism. According to Britannica, "Beckett's later works tended toward extreme concentration and brevity…. Such brevity is merely an expression of Beckett's determination to pare his writing to… Read More

Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1980 Translated from the original English by the author. First French trade edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett to Mel Gussow on title page: "For Mel Gussow / With all good wishes / Sam Beckett / Paris / July 1982." Publisher's original white wrappers, front wrapper and spine lettered in blue and black. Near fine, with light toning to spine and edges, and a small patch of light surface damage to rear wrapper. Overall, a fresh and clean copy. This copy comes from Mel Gussow's personal library. Compagnie (Company) is a semi-autobiographical prose piece that tells the story of an older man lying on his back in the dark as an ethereal, unidentified voice narrates an extended third person monologue. As with many of the author's prose and dramatic works, Compagnie is lauded for its deconstructive form. Beckett, an Irish author and native English speaker, moved to France and subsequently transitioned from… Read More

London: Printed for Benjamin Motte, 1727-1728. Three volumes. First edition thus, with a preface by Swift and Pope. Contemporary full brown calf, spines lettered in gilt, red labels to spines, and red speckled edges. Good set, with heavy flaking to calf, spine ends lightly chipped, some wear to corners, some rubbing to edges, a bit of loss to spine label on Vol. I (lettering very minimally affected), dampstaining to pp. 32-144 and 222-305 in Vol. I and margins of Vol. II's title page and table of contents page, and just some light spotting and soiling to interiors otherwise. Overall, a sturdy and unrestored set, in a contemporary binding. Miscellanies is a collaborative work by satirists Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, mathematician John Arbuthnot, and poet John Gay, the most prominent members of the Scriblerus Club. The Club was formed in 1714, but most of their writings did not appear in print until decades later. As explained in the preface in Vol. I, Swift and his friends decided to publish… Read More

New York: Grove Press, [1957] (originally published in 1931), 1981 First American edition. One of 250 copies signed and numbered by Beckett on the limitation page, this being number 76. Publisher's brown cloth-backed white patterned paper-covered boards, with front board and spine lettered in gilt. Near fine, with light toning to spine and upper edges of boards, and just a hint of spotting to rear board. Overall, a beautiful copy, seemingly unread. From the personal library of American theater critic and friend of Beckett, Mel Gussow. Proust, Beckett's second published book, is a dense study of the French author Marcel Proust, which gives insight into Beckett's own burgeoning ideas on writing. Beckett wrote the essay in 1930 as a commission for Chatto & Windus' Dolphin Books series. In all, fourteen titles were published in the series, which only ran from 1930 to 1932. Beckett went on to write classic works like The Trilogy (Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable) (1951-1953), Endgame… Read More

Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker and T. Fisher Unwin, 1901 - 1908 7 volumes. Volumes 3 - 7 illustrated with frontispieces. Publisher's brown wrappers, printed in black. Near fine set, with some small closed tears and creasing to edges of wrappers, light chipping to spine ends of Vol. 1, "The City College" bookplate to insides of front wrappers, and uncut pages. Overall, a clean and complete set of the influential periodical. Housed in a custom blue folding chemise. In 1899, W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn - with a shared vision of establishing a national theater for Ireland - founded the Irish Literary Theatre. The theater closed in 1901, but from its ashes rose the Abbey Theatre in 1904. As part of their theatrical mission, Yeats and his friends created the short-lived periodical Beltaine (1899 - 1900), followed by Samhain, which ran from 1901 - 1908. In the first issue of Samhain, Yeats writes, "I have called this little collection of writings Samhain, the old… Read More

Dundrum: The Cuala Press, 1922 First edition, first impression. One of 500 copies. Signed and inscribed by Yeats: "W. B. Yeats. Jan 14, 1924." to title page. Publisher's quarter buff linen cloth and gray paper-covered boards, lettered in black to front board, gray endpapers, edges untrimmed. A very good copy with some toning and wear to extremities, paper slightly rubbed away from the boards at the corners, front hinge starting, small sticker to rear free endpaper, tiny hole to second free leaf. Wade 132. Seven Poems and a Fragment is a collection of poetry by the Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats. It includes "All Soul's Night," "A Prayer for my Son," and "Thoughts Upon the Present State of the World," among others. Notably, the first edition was published by the Cuala Press, a private press owned by the author's sister, Elizabeth Yeats. Focused on providing employment opportunities for women in Ireland, the press produced fine… Read More

London: Printed for Benj. Motte, 1726 Illustrated with two maps in Volume I, and three maps and a diagram in Volume 2. Four parts in two volumes as issued. First edition, third issue (Teerink's "B" Edition), with frontispiece portrait of Gulliver in the second state (legend lettered around an oval frame, and vertical chain lines), as usual. This is the third of three editions of Gulliver's Travels printed in the same year - the first "A" published October 27th, "AA" published in November, and this "B" issue published in December. Octavo. Finely bound in 19th century speckled calf by Robson & Kerslake, with boards triple-ruled in gilt with gilt decorations in corners, five raised bands to spines, ruled, lettered, and decorated in gilt, red and dark blue leather labels to spines, red marbled endpapers, gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt, and yellow edges. Very good set, with some repair to hinges, light wear to edges and corners, and some light spotting to… Read More

Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922 First edition. Limited to 1000 copies. The 1000 copies were divided into three limitations: 100 copies (nos. 1-100) printed on Dutch paper and signed by Joyce; 150 copies (nos. 101-250) printed on Vergé d'Arches paper; and the final 750 copies (nos. 251-1000) printed on linen paper, of which this is number 349. Original publisher's teal paper wrappers, lettered in white. Light rubbing to wrapper edges, wear to spine with a small chip below first spine band and some loss to lower spine, very mild crease to first several leaves, front wrapper joint tender but holding. Housed in custom slipcase with folding chemise, slipcase with some wear. Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses, was first published serially in The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, at which time copies of the magazine were seized and the magazine's publishers were taken to trial due to the sexually explicit nature of the novel. Because of the controversy surrounding… Read More

London: T. Werner Laurie, Ltd., 1925 With frontispiece by Giraldus, and with two woodcut designs of The Great Wheel and a unicorn by Edmund Dulac. One of 600 copies, numbered and signed by Yeats, this being number 596. Publisher's pale blue paper boards with parchment half-binding with white paper label, pale blue endpapers matching binding, all edges untrimmed; pale blue dust jacket with white paper label printed in brown to spine. About fine, very light toning to front board extremities, and front and rear paste-downs and free endpapers, tiny smudge on the top of front board; dust jacket has a bit of smudging on the front panel, two small closed tears on the rear panel near the spine, a bit of creasing and a few small closed tears at the bottom of the front panel. A beautiful copy. Wade 149. A Vision is an ambitious work composed by W. B. Yeats that maps out an original and complex cosmology. The book received crucial contributions from his wife at the time, Georgie-Hyde Lees, through her… Read More

London: Faber and Faber [orig. published 1956], 1981 Later edition. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett on title page: "For Mel / With all good wishes / from Sam / Paris / 29.8.84." Publisher's white wrappers, with a drawing of a tree and hand by Sidney Nolan on front wrapper, printed in black. About fine, with just a hint of soiling to wrappers, and light toning to margins of pages. Overall, an excellent inscribed copy of Beckett's greatest work. This copy comes from the personal library of Mel Gussow. Waiting for Godot - originally written in French, under the title En attendant Godot - is an absurdist play about two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who converse in witty and amusing banter while they wait for Godot, who ultimately never arrives. The play premiered in Paris at the Théâtre de Babylone in January 1953. A theatrical masterpiece, Godot was voted the "most significant English-language play of the 20th century" in a poll of… Read More

New York: Grove Press, 1954 Translated from author's own original French. First American edition, first printing. Publisher's black cloth, with wraparound title in blind, spine lettered in gold and silver foil, red endpapers; in its original black and white dust jacket, with a photograph from a production of the play to front panel, and portrait of Beckett to rear panel. Fine book with just a minuscule spot of soiling to fore edge of text block; about fine unclipped dust jacket, with a touch of toning to spine and flap edges, and a tiny bit of rubbing to foot of spine. Overall, a truly excellent copy. Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play about two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who converse in witty and amusing banter while they wait for Godot, who ultimately never arrives. Beckett, an Irish author whose move to France was accompanied by his transition from writing in English to French, translated this text from its original French (published under the title En attendant Godot). The play… Read More

New York: The Fountain Press; London: Chatto & Windus, 1929 First edition, first printing. One of 600 numbered copies signed by the author on the half-title. Publisher's dark blue cloth, with gold spiral patterns stamped in gilt to the boards, spine lettered in gilt with two red morocco labels, top edge gilt, fore-edges and bottom edges uncut, purple endpapers flecked with gold and lined in white, printed on Kalmar paper. A very good or better copies, light wear to the extremities, a few minor spots to the cloth, spine gilt a bit dimmed, lower spine label chipped; internally, very clean with only some fading to the endpapers and pastedown, minor dampstain to upper inner margin. Overall, a very attractive copy. Wade 164. The Winding Stair is a collection of six poems: "In Memory of Eva Gore Booth and Con Markiewicz," "Death," "A Dialogue of Self and Soul," "Blood and the Moon," "Oil and Blood," and "A Woman Young and Old." Like his… Read More

London: for J. Johnson, 1808 19 volumes. 8vo., bound in contemporary three-quarter dark calf over blue boards with gilt spines, marbled pastedown and endpapers. A very good to near fine set with light rubbing and a few small stains to covers; internally very tight and clean with only some light scattered foxing, mostly to the preliminary pages of text. A very attractive set of Swift's works. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born in Ireland. He studied at Trinity College and was close with Alexander Pope and John Gay, the two other most important writers of his time period. He penned poetry and prose, and is best remembered for writing Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, or Gulliver’s Travels (1726). A masterpiece of English satire, Gulliver’s Travels is still widely read today, and has inspired many television series as well as the 2010 movie.. Hard Cover. Fine.

London: John Calder, 1983 First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Beckett to American theater critic Mel Gussow on title page: "For / Mel Gussow / With all best wishes / Sam Beckett / Paris / 24.6.83." Publisher's green cloth, with titles in gilt to spine; in its original white and green dust jacket, printed in black and green, with photo of Beckett to rear panel attributed to Jerry Bauer. Fine in an about fine unclipped dust jacket, with a tiny crease to top of rear panel, a light crease to top corner of rear flap, and a hint of toning to extremities. Overall, a beautiful copy with an excellent association. This copy comes from the personal library of Mel Gussow. Worstward Ho is Samuel Beckett's penultimate novella. From the jacket's description: "As so often before, Mr. Beckett has created magic, transforming the emptiest of voids and insubstantiality of material into a whole unforgettable world that will live with the reader and become… Read More